Last year was perhaps the roughest one in Ryan Garcia‘s entire career after his first professional loss by seventh-round TKO against Tank Davis in 2023. Almost 4 months after that fight, the 26-year-old had faced Devin Haney in a 12-round bout, which he won by majority decision, knocking The Dream down three times during the match, and shocking the entire crowd at Barclays Center that night in Brooklyn, New York. The win was controversial because King Ry Garcia weighed three pounds over the limit, taking away his chance to win Haney’s then WBC welterweight belt. But what surfaced later was even more disappointing for fans.

Soon after the fight, the California native had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, ostarine, banned in the Anti-Doping Rules that were set in place by the International Boxing Association. Though Garcia repeatedly denied any intentional usage. And, his legal team requested to test Garcia’s B-samples (backup samples) as well, only to solidify the previously positive results. As a consequence, New York State Athletic Commission suspended the boxer, also stripping him of $1.1 million from his purse for the fight and fining an additional $10k. To the 24-1 boxer, that must have felt like the end of the world. Only, it wasn’t.

How long was Ryan Garcia suspended? When was the ban lifted?

For an entire year, Garcia remained under suspension by the NYSAC. From April 20, 2024, to April 20 this year, to be precise. Finally, the ban was officially lifted on April 24 when he cleared random drug tests, giving him a chance to go on to restore his charisma. Since The Flash already knew when the ban was going to be lifted, he didn’t wait around and waste time when he wasn’t allowed to fight. In January itself, there were rumours that he was going to fight Isaac Cruz.

But, Cruz opted out, leaving Rolando Romero a chance to step in and fight Garcia on May 2nd. So, technically, tomorrow evening is this grand showdown and Garcia’s return to the ring. As the main event of Fatal Fury in Times Square, this bout will happen in New York City, with only an exclusive crowd of 100 to 300 people attending the event. The rest of us can watch the Garcia-Romero bout, and two other high-profile matches in the undercard, on DAZN pay-per-view (PPV).

In the co-main event, Devin Haney will also be fighting Jose Ramirez, making it look like the event is set up for Garcia vs. Haney to happen all over again. It’s true, if both Garcia and Haney win their respective bouts, a rematch could be on the line in October. However, if even one of them loses, the verbally agreed-upon rematch would only be pushed back or may even get canceled. For now, the latter seems unlikely to happen, no matter what the outcomes are tomorrow. Since their camps are busy looking back at the past and fueling their feud as a part of the drug fiasco.

Ryan Garcia claims Team Haney might have been behind his ban

Right from the beginning, Garcia had kept an innocent stance, claiming that he hadn’t intentionally used any PEDs for the Haney bout. Taking to his X handle, he posted a series of tweets, “Take my victory away, add that on to the list of the s*** I’m already going thru.” In one more, he wrote, “I never f***ing cheated.” In another one, he continued, “I really hope boxing good without me. I fought everyone and was willing to…I’m innocent I stand by that. I don’t care what everyone says. Gun yo [to] my head I say I didn’t take PED’s.” Everyone had started worrying about Ryan Garcia’s mental health at the time.

Months after Garcia’s suspension, Haney also filed a lawsuit against the boxer, suing him for the offences of battery, fraud, and breach of contract because of his doping violation. But, in January this year, Haney reportedly dropped the lawsuit when rematch negotiations had come through. Fans thought that was it, that now both of them would go on with the Times Square fights and everything would be merry again. But Garcia never told Haney that he wouldn’t be firing back. In March, when both of their fights were confirmed against different opponents, Garcia took the opportunity to respond.

In the press conference where Garcia was going to announce his upcoming Romero bout, he blew back against Haney, “All I’m really worried about is whooping Haney’s ass again. That’s all I’m worried about. I’m not even looking to redeem myself. But just cement that bull***t Ostarine bull***t, which we know you [Haney] probably did set that up. Corruption at its finest.” Still acting innocent about the controversy that happened way back, he firmly stated, “Ostarine don’t protect you from blocking a left hook. You got hit 1000 times. You got dribbled off the canvas.”