Two supplements listed on doping control forms filed by star boxer Ryan Garcia ahead of his victory over Devin Haney tested positive for the banned substance ostarine, according to Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory reports released Thursday.
The doping control forms reviewed by ESPN were submitted with Garcia’s urine samples collected on April 19 and 20 (the day before and the day of the fight) and both times returned unfavorable results for ostarine.
Supplements: NutraBio SuperCarb with a raspberry-lemonade flavor, which showed the presence of ostarine at the level of 70-2200 picograms per gram of powder, and a Body Health amino acid mixture with a strawberry flavor (660-830 picograms). Other Garcia supplements listed in the following forms: D3, iron, Thorne elite multivitamins and magnesium glycinate.
Paul Greene, who represented UFC stars Jon Jones and Sean O’Malley in doping cases, told ESPN on Thursday that he hopes the presence of ostarine in these supplements will lead to a reduction in Garcia’s suspension from the Up-to-date York State Athletic Commission.
The Commission’s anti-doping rules provide for strict liability, which means that an athlete is responsible for any supplements he or she takes. Greene admits there was still an “element of negligence” in Garcia’s actions, but says it was an “innocent way of thinking.”
“The global fight against doping [Agency] the code actually recognizes the supplement’s advance declaration as evidence of an athlete’s employ and, in most cases, allows the athlete to receive a reduced penalty,” said Greene, founder and partner of Global Sports Advocates, who represents Garcia along with three other lawyers.
“I hope [the punishment] will be at the lowest level when determining such cases,” he added. “Usually there are a number of sanctions depending on the degree of fault, and in a situation where you have a contaminated supplement that is not available after an Internet search and it is not on the label, the athlete could not have known that there was a banned substance in it unless he had sent it in advance to one of two WADA-accredited laboratories.”
Greene expressed hope that Garcia will avoid a hearing before the commission and that all parties – the WBC, NYSAC and the fighter’s team – will reach an agreement on his punishment.
“We understand that Ryan will receive some sanction,” Greene said, “but we believe that given this evidence, it should be a flexible sanction.”
He believes that “four months or less” would be most appropriate.
Of course, not everyone agrees with this. Victor Conte, who works with Haney as a sports dietitian and performance consultant, told ESPN that “the test results simply cannot be authenticated because there is no supply chain.” Indeed, laboratory reports indicated that the supplements submitted were unprotected.
“Why do they test powders from unsealed supplement containers?” said Conte, founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative. He served time in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to distribute performance-enhancing drugs before founding SNAC, a sports nutrition company.
“In my opinion, it seems likely that there may have been manipulation. Testing product samples from unsealed containers with the same production numbers is the place to start if the results are to be considered reliable. How can test results from an unsealed container possibly be authenticated? This is not the way to conduct credible science.
Ostarine is a selective androgen receptor modulator that attaches to proteins in the body and effectively signals muscle growth. It is used to enhance performance by helping athletes build muscle mass and enhance the rate of fat loss, as well as to enhance endurance and recovery capacity.
Since 2008, Ostarine has been on the WADA list of prohibited substances, and in 2022 it was included by this agency on the list of anabolic agents.
“I do not know where [the adverse finding] where he comes from,” Garcia, 25, told ESPN earlier this month in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, hours before he was at ringside for Oleksandr Usyk’s heavyweight title fight against Tyson Fury. “Honestly, brother, I don’t know. I was taking ashwagandha, D-3, Omega-3, regular S—. I don’t know what the hell… [ostarine] Is. …I seriously have no idea. I would tell everyone the truth.
“What I mean is, I’d rather tell the truth than try to fabricate it with a lie. Because they can’t stand lies. So if I really accepted that, I would be in a weird situation, honestly.” I wasn’t very confident. I’m sorry. And that’s it. But I can’t stand cheating. All I can say is that the legal team will support me sort this out externally.”
Garcia knocked down Haney three times in a majority decision victory, but was ineligible to win the WBC junior welterweight title due to being 3.2 pounds overweight.
Ostarine has been used in boxing before. Lucian Bute tested positive for the disease in 2016 after drawing with Badou Jack for the WBC super middleweight title. The result was changed to Jack winning by DQ. Amir Khan has been banned for two years by the British Anti-Doping Organization after testing positive for ostarine following his sixth-round TKO loss to Kell Brook in 2022.
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