Promoter Eddie Hearn believes Devin Haney’s $50-100 million lawsuit against Ryan Garcia could be a deterrent to other fighters using drugs to gain an advantage in their fights.
On Friday, Haney issued a charge 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 via a 12 round majority decision, which was later changed to a no contest due to his positive evaluation.
“It’s an interesting case. I was talking to my lawyer on the way up here. He sued Ryan Garcia and Golden Boy in that suit,” said Eddie Hearn speaking to Boxing King Media discussing Devin Haney’s lawsuit against Ryan Garcia.
If the lawsuit is successful, this could change the sport, scaring cheaters from using PEDs in the future. Whether Haney would receive $50-100 million in the case is unknown. That would be a difficult judgment.
“Sometimes, when a person is tested after a fight, it’s very different than a test before and they don’t pass the fight. “But when you’re in a fight, you’re screwed, you have performance-enhancing drugs in your system, they make you physically win the fight,” said Hearn.
The financial penalties should be more severe if a fighter is found to have PEDs after the fight than before. How much is unclear. The $50-100 million that Hearn is talking about may be out of this world and absurd, but it will be up to the judges. If the judge feels that makes sense, Ryan could be stuck. Haney wouldn’t need to work again, and it wouldn’t matter if his career fell apart.
Some feel that is what will happen with Haney, but not because of the loss of Ryan and his positive PED test. They just see Haney as too weak and weak to beat the upper-echelon fighters at 140 or 147. His only experience at 140 before the fight with Ryan last April was Regis Prograis, an older fighter in his 30s, Josh Taylor had already beaten him. .
You may have physically harmed your opponent and mentally harmed your opponent. He stopped the opponent from getting money because he lost the battle. It’s always something that people talk about, but it’s never something that people take to court. So, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Ima sue you for hurting my feelings with that tweet 😔😔😔
— RYAN GARCIA (@RyanGarcia) September 27, 2024
“It will be good to stop people from taking drugs because right now Ryan Garcia got a year. “Now, if Ryan Garcia gets arrested for fifty or one hundred million dollars, that will make people think,” said Hearn.
If Haney’s lawsuit wins even half of the $100 million against Ryan, it will make fighters think twice about using PEDs for profit.
The next thing that needs to change in boxing is the strict mega-million penalties for fighters who lose 20+ lbs to gain weight. Whether Hearn wants to admit it or not, weightlifters are just as dangerous as fighters who use PEDs, and that’s a problem that needs to be addressed.
The Commissions, the sanctioning bodies, should change the rules by making rehydration stages mandatory in all weight classes with the second weigh-in on the evening of the fight. It’s not good that fighters only weigh in the day before a fight and then quickly gain 25 pounds to crush their opponents.
Also, weighing in the second morning of a fight is not helpful because it leaves open the door for some unscrupulous fighters to turn to illegal methods like IVs to quickly add fluids to their system. That is very difficult to do when the second weight check is on the evening of the fight.
