The source of Ryan Garcia’s banned substance troubles appears to be lemonade-flavored.
The legal team of the boxer released a statement Thursday announcing that two supplements he declared to doping authorities had tested positive for Ostarine contamination. Ostarine is the same banned substance Garcia tested positive for following his breakthrough win over Devin Haney.
The attorneys claimed the results showed Garcia was a victim of supplement contamination and that he has never used performance-enhancing supplements. They also pointed to previous negative tests and a clean hair sample as indications that Garcia never knowingly ingested Ostarine.
The test results from samples of two supplements declared by Ryan Garcia on VADA Doping Control Forms, signed on April 19th and 20th, have returned positive for Ostarine contamination. This confirms what we have consistently maintained: Ryan was a victim of supplement contamination and has never intentionally used any banned or performance-enhancing substances. Any claims to the contrary, questioning Ryan’s integrity as a clean fighter, are unequivocally false and defamatory.
Throughout his career, Ryan has voluntarily submitted to numerous tests, all of which have returned negative results, underscoring his commitment to fair and clean competition. Additionally, multiple negative tests leading up to his fight against Haney further affirm his clean record. The ultra-low levels of Ostarine detected in his samples, in the billionth of a gram range, along with his clean hair sample proves contamination rather than intentional ingestion. The recent test results reiterate this.
A press conference will be held next week to provide more insight and answer questions.
Per documents obtained by ESPN, the supplements at issue are raspberry-lemonade flavored NutraBio SuperCarb (which tested positive for Ostarine at 70-2200 picograms per gram powder) and Body Health strawberry-flavored amino-acid blend (660 to 830 picograms). A picogram is one trillionth of a gram.
The supplements returning positive also apparently won’t take Garcia fully out of the woods, doping-wise. Garcia attorney Paul Greene also told ESPN he hopes the finding will only lead to a reduced suspension from the New York State Athletic Commission.
To the commission, fighters are ultimately responsible for the supplements they take, but the finding could help reduce the suspension. From ESPN:
“The World Anti-Doping [Association] code actually recognizes a declaration of a supplement in advance as proof that the athlete took it, and it allows an athlete to get a reduced sanction in most cases,” said Greene, the founding partner of Global Sports Advocates, who is representing Garcia alongside three other attorneys.
“I’m hopeful that [the punishment] will be on the very lowest end of how they determine these cases,” he added. “Normally, there’s a range of sanction based on degree of fault, and when you have a situation where you have a contaminated supplement where it’s not available in an internet search, it’s not on a label, there’s no way an athlete could have possibly known the banned substance was in there unless they would’ve sent it to one of the two WADA-accredited laboratories in advance.”
Greene expressed a hope that Garcia can avoid a hearing and come to an agreement on a punishment with the NYSAC and WBC, throwing out “four months or less” as an appropriate punishment.
Garcia has claimed innocence since his first positive test, often in unhinged ways. He peaked after his B sample tested positive, when he declared “I will swallow steroids” in a since-deleted tweet.
It has been a chaotic time in Garcia’s life in the month since what should have been the biggest win of his career, had he not came in three pounds overweight and lost $1.5 million in the process. In addition to the banned substance fight, he is also facing a defamation lawsuit from influencer Logan Paul’s drink company Prime Hydration. Paul has also claimed Garcia fabricated texts making light of the deaths in the Gaza Strip.
