Eddie Hearn views Devin Haney’s lawsuit toward Ryan Garcia as a deterrent to prevent other fighters from using PEDs to gain an advantage in their fights.
Win or lose the lawsuit, Haney could change the sport by scaring fighters away from using PEDs for fear of being sued, as Ryan is for testing positive for Ostarine after being Devin on April 20th.
Ryan has already been suspended and fined. So, if he loses the civil case against him to Haney, this would be a second money loss for him.
Being suspended for an entire year by the New York State Athletic Commission means that Ryan is missing a tremendous amount of money on top of the fine and whatever he loses in the lawsuit. Obviously, Haney’s career is looking shaky regardless.
It’s difficult to picture him coming back and doing well at 147 against talented fighters like Jaron Ennis, Mario Barrios, or Eimantas Stanionis. The lawsuit and an eventual rematch with Ryan might be the only thing Haney can look forward to for the remainder of his career.
Garcia knocked Haney down three times before winning a 12-round majority decision. The fight was pretty one-sided, as Garcia was too strong for Haney. The fight arguably should have been halted in the seventh round due to Devin being down numerous times.
Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) listed the reasons in his lawsuit as
- Battery
- Fraud
- Unjust enrichment
Deterrent of Losing Tens of Millions
“I think win, lose or draw in court, I think this is actually a good thing to deter fighters from using performance-enhancing drugs because the penalty is not strict enough,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing Social about Devin Haney filing a lawsuit against Ryan Garcia on Friday.
“Ryan Garcia is a good example where he got a year’s ban. By the time you have a little six months off with a ban, you’re going back into camp. But the deterrent of losing tens of millions of dollars is much worse.”
The lawsuit will scare some fighters who use PEDs during preparation for important fights because they’re not going to want to take the risk of being sued and suspended for a year.
“So now that there’s a potential legal action against someone who talked performance-enhancing drugs, I actually think is a pivotal moment for the sport in that respect. I’ve spoken to a lot of lawyers about it,” said Hearn.
If Haney’s lawsuit is unsuccessful, it probably won’t succeed in deterring fighters from using PEDs because there’s too much to gain by using them. If it makes a difference from being an average fighter that is struggling to beat lower level guys to suddenly looking like Superman, they’re going to use the stuff. They can become a millionaire overnight by beating the right guy to get a cash-out fight.
“It’s certainly not clearcut either way, but they believe the case has got a lot of merit, and it’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out,” said Hearn.
There is a downside to Haney in choosing to sue Ryan Garcia and Golden Boy Promotions in response to his loss because it could deter other fighters and their promoters from wanting to fight him. Why fight him if there’s the potential of a lawsuit afterward if they successfully beat him? Who needs that kind of headache?
Fighters Using Weight Manipulation to Win
Hearn skipped over the issue about fighters rehydrating 20+ lbs to seek an advantage over their opponents. That’s an important thing to, which has been ignored by the sport, but could result in deaths, injuries and lawsuits in the future.
Being a weight bully is completely unfair, and those fighters who use this should be drummed out of the sport. They should be eradicated because it’s so dangerous. I don’t know why Hearn failed to mention the weight manipulation of fighters that game the system by rehydratring 25 pounds, but it’s a problem that needs to be fixed.
When fighters drain dramatic amounts of weight to compete in divisions well below their frames and then rapidly put 20+ lbs of weight on overnight, it’s unfair and dangerous for their opponents.
Boxing is good at testing for PEDs but ignores the equally dangerous practice of many fighters competing well below their weight classes. This needs to be fixed before more fighters get hurt or killed.
There needs to be same-day weight-ins or secondary weight checks on the day of the fight, preferably 2 hours before the fight to prevent the use of illegal IVs to add fluid rapidly.
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