It’s clear there’s no trust existing in Devin Haney toward Ryan Garcia, so the Haney camp request that Garcia enroll in Olympic-style drug testing just more than six months before a possible rematch should be seen as a precursor of what it’ll take for the two to fight again.
Haney’s father/trainer/manager, Bill Haney, sent out a 48-hour-long Monday offer for Garcia to sign up for Voluntary Anti-Doping Association testing in order for the pair to meet again right after Garcia’s one-year doping suspension expires April 20.
The elder Haney’s offer came after Garcia – in one of the avalanche of social-media posts he has made – expressed interest in revisiting a second fight, wondering if two-division champion Devin Haney was up to the task after filing a lawsuit for punitive damages after Garcia’s positive drug tests for the banned performance-enhancing substance Ostarine.
“We don’t duck fights or lawsuits, @RyanGarcia , you got 48 hours to enroll in VADA for the rematch. Clean competition, real standards. We’re always ready—are you? @Realdevinhaney stays focused, lawsuit or not. #NoExcuses #RealChampions #VADA #Rematch #TeamHaney,” Bill Haney posted on “X.”
Garcia let the 48 hours expire without signing up, posting this on “X.”
“You have to be dumb if you think ima listen to what bill Haney request. First of all, they are suing me. Second of all, I don’t need them at all. LMAO,” Garcia wrote.
Bill Haney responded, “Ryan had his shot to step up, but we respect our time and the sport. We’re moving forward to bigger things. If he can make peace with how he handled it, so can we. Champions don’t wait.”
In a conversation with BoxingScene this week, Bill Haney said his team and Garcia both understand the magnitude of a rematch of the high-profile bout that Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) won on the scorecards by majority decision thanks to three knockdowns of Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Days after the bout – in which Garcia lost his right to fight for Haney’s 140-pound WBC belt because he weighed in more than three pounds overweight – Garcia’s positive tests would start a chain of events that caused the New York State Athletic Commission to label the bout a no-contest.
Haney would later relinquish his WBC belt due to disinterest in fighting mandatory challenger Sandor Martin for a purse he found unacceptable.
In a social-media photo, Devin Haney was seen looking ripped and fit for a fight.
“He was training for the rematch,” Bill Haney declared.
The intention with requesting the drug testing now, Bill Haney said, is to ensure Garcia steps into the ring without the benefit of any enhancement.
One of the most repeated refrains from Haney’s conditioning advisor and former BALCO head Victor Conte is there’s a neglected policing window of opportunity drug cheats will exploit during out-of-competition non-testing periods.
“We’re going to push the date out so far that sticking himself is obsolete,” Bill Haney said of Garcia.
By going six months out, Team Haney seeks to ensure Garcia cannot gain any advantage that they believe he carried into the first bout. After an erratic training camp in which Garcia posted conspiracy theories and wild comments while behaving unhinged, the Southern California fighter proceeded to batter Haney with power left hooks that wobbled and floored the champion.
It was a stunning and suspicious event.
“So to ask Ryan to enroll in VADA now – that’s a dumb request?” Bill Haney asked. “We don’t think so. We’ve got six months before the fight. It was an olive branch extended. You’ve got to be clean to fight.”
To the Haneys, the lawsuit is a separate matter that will be meted out by attorneys and the Eastern District Court of New York. The rematch is a lucrative endeavor that they will not blindly agree to without conditions/protections that were lacking in the first bout.
“If you’re serious about the sport, you should be training and getting tested right now,” Bill Haney said as if he were speaking directly to Garcia. “If the boxing world (accepts) less than that, we’re pushing the sport back to the horse-and-buggy days.”
Devin Haney has been in post-Garcia talks to meet other fighters that those boxers allowed to crumble, Bill Haney said, including a showdown with current 140-pound champions Teofimo Lopez in Saudi Arabia and Liam Paro in Paro’s native Australia.
“People are going to talk about Devin’s heart until he’s back in the ring,” Bill Haney said. “His skills have been in question since those three knockdowns.
“But Devin said yes to Teofimo and yes to Liam Paro, who’s now going to fight in Puerto Rico? And him wanting to fight Ryan Garcia reveals the heart that Devin has for the sport and answers all the questions people may have. So, now, we ask, ‘Who’s next?’”
Bill Haney said Devin Haney could fight before year’s end if a bout can materialize before then.
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