Devin Haney has responded to Ryan Garcia’s positive VADA tests with a scathing statement in which he accuses his rival of disrespecting the sport by “fighting dirty” in their April 20th encounter.
Haney, who was dropped three times by Garcia en route to a first professional defeat, released the statement earlier today following news of Garcia’s two positive tests.
“We learned about this situation not too long ago and it’s unfortunate Ryan cheated and disrespected both the fans and the sport of boxing by fighting dirty and breaking positive not once, but twice.” Haney began.
Devin Haney released a statement after Ryan Garcia tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance before and the day of their fight last month. pic.twitter.com/0pfEUaqM9e
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) May 2, 2024
“I’ve always been an advocate for clean fighting and this is an example of such. Ryan owes the fans an apology, and by his recent tweet he still thinks this is a joke. We put our lives on the line to entertain people for a living. You don’t play boxing.”
The reference to Garcia’s tweet (X) came after the social media star reacted to news of the story breaking by making a series of bizarre posts to his almost-million-strong following on the platform. The posts ranged from Garcia insinuating foul play for being photographed with Donald Trump to flippantly suggesting controversial rapper Sean ‘P Diddy’ Combs “paid for the tests”.
Hmm I’m seen with trump
And now I’m positive for steroids
This is a straight attack
Crazy
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) May 2, 2024
Diddy paid for the drug test
Allegedly
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) May 2, 2024
25-year-old Haney, who still holds the WBC super-lightweight title by virtue of Garcia failing to make weight, finished by stressing the dangers of the sport and once again lambasted ‘KingRy’ for his nonchalance.
“This puts the fight in a completely different light. Despite the disadvantage, I still fought on my shield and got back up!”
“People die in this sport. This isn’t a joking matter.”