In 2025, it will be the first anniversary of one of the most talked about boxing matches in recent times, although for the wrong reasons, after a doping scandal that left its result without effect and which keeps in total uncertainty a possible ‘rematch’.
We are of course talking about the rivalry between the American boxers -one of Mexican origin- Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney, who do not go a day without attacking each other from their respective social media profiles, whether they are talking about their fight on April 20, 2024 at the Barclays Center, a colleague, other fights or even politics or other topics.
They have been fighting for almost a year
And they have no choice, after the enormous amount of bickering that has been poured into these spaces with their names in the middle, which makes an eventual rematch between the two seem increasingly distant. The public and fans are fed up.
Many believe that such a rematch will never take place, firstly because Garcia – who won that day by majority decision – is still serving the one-year suspension determined by the New York State Athletic Commission after testing positive for ostarine in doping tests. In addition, Garcia claims he will return, but there are no specific actions, nor a plan to support his ‘return’, not to mention that he is suffering from a wrist injury.
Garcia has fought with his own shadow
In addition, Ryan Garcia has not stopped throwing at the boxing world and prominent actors in it, a reason that seems enough to be ostracized, at least from the big cards, and if this were not enough, he recently lashed out against the entity that gave an account of his positive, the VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association), which for him no longer has any authority and was invoked in the last hours by David Benavidez, because his next opponent David Morrel did not undergo any test of the entity.
Garcia responded to the ‘Mexican monster’s’ comments and told him that it is strange that everything goes through VADA, to which a user told him that he did not have the moral authority to question that. King Ryan replied: “F*** you buddy, I will always claim my innocence. I’m clean, but I will never use that organization again”
For his part, Devin Haney, who would return to action in March, is now suggesting that Garcia should undergo random drug testing, precisely with VADA, and that only then would he be free to seek to face him again: “I think he should enroll in VADA’s 24/7 program to prove he’s a clean athlete and then get back into boxing,” he said.