Promoter Eddie Hearn believes Devin Haney’s lawsuit against Ryan Garcia for 50-100 million could serve as a deterrent to prevent other fighters from using performance-enhancing drugs to gain an advantage in their fights.
On Friday, Haney issued a lawsuit against Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) from their April 20 fight earlier this year in which Garcia tested positive for the PED Ostarine afterward. Ryan defeated Haney by a 12-round majority decision, which was later changed to a no-contest due to his positive test.
“This is an interesting case. I talked to my lawyer on the way here. He’s also suing Ryan Garcia and Golden Boy in that suit,” Eddie Hearn said Boxing King Mediadiscussing Devin Haney’s lawsuit against Ryan Garcia.
If the lawsuit is successful, it could change the sport and scare cheaters from using PEDs in the future. Whether Haney would get $50-100 million for the lawsuit is unknown. That would be harsh judgment.
“Sometimes, when someone tests positive after the fight, it’s very different from testing before and not making it to the fight. But when you’re in the fight, and you cheated, and you had performance-enhancing drugs in your system, and it physically made you win the fight,” Hearn said.
The financial penalties should be much worse if a fighter tests positive for PEDs after a fight rather than before. Just how much is unclear. The $50-100 million that Hearn is talking about may be out of this world and unrealistic, but that will depend on the judge. If a judge feels that’s reasonable, Ryan could be stuck. Haney doesn’t have to work again, and it won’t matter if his career falls apart.
Some feel that is what will happen to Haney, but not because of his loss to Ryan and his positive PED tests. They just see Haney as too weak and fragile to beat top level fighters at 140 or 147. His only experience at 140 before fighting Ryan last April was Regis Prograis, an older fighter in his mid-30s, who had already beaten Josh Taylor. .
You may have damaged the opponent physically and damaged the opponent mentally. You stopped the opponent from earning money because he lost the fight. It’s always something that people talked about, but it’s never something that actually brought people to court. So, it’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out.
I’m suing you because you hurt my feelings with that tweet 😔😔😔
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) September 27, 2024
“It’s going to be good to keep people from taking drugs because right now for taking PEDs Ryan Garcia has a year. Now, if Ryan Garcia gets sued for fifty or a hundred million dollars, that will definitely make people think,” Hearn said.
If Haney’s lawsuit is successful for even a fraction of the $100 million against Ryan, it will make fighters think twice about using PEDs to gain an advantage.
The next thing that needs to change with boxing is stiff mega-million penalties for fighters rehydrating 20+ pounds to gain an advantage. Whether Hearn wants to admit it or not, weight bullies are just as dangerous as fighters using PEDs, and it’s a problem that needs to be fixed.
The Commissions, the sanctioning bodies, should change the rules by making rehydration clauses mandatory for all weight classes with a secondary weigh-in on the night of the fight. It’s no good for fighters to weigh in just the day before a fight and then quickly rehydrate 25 pounds to crush their opponents.
Secondary weigh-ins on the morning of the fight are also useless because it leaves open the possibility for some unscrupulous fighters to turn to illegal methods like IVs to quickly add fluid to their system. This is much more difficult to do if the secondary weight check is on the night of the fight.
