Ryan Garcia is in a whole host of trouble following his A-Sample testing positive for ostarine. The Victorville native went up against Devin Haney last month, producing a shock majority decision win. However, the euphoria didn’t last long as VADA revealed the 25-year-old tested positive for the PED on one day before and on the day of the fight. 

A storm of controversy took over the whole situation, as fans and pundits alike started turning on Garcia. But this wasn’t the end of Garcia’s trouble. After requesting the analysis of his B-Sample, Garcia again tested positive for the same substance, solidifying everyone’s belief that Garcia was indeed taking drugs. Now, while appearing in an interview with Pro Box TV’s Deep Waters, former boxer and now analyst Paulie Malignaggi explains how the entire ordeal unfolded. Spoiler alert: Malignaggi thinks Garcia was micro dosing! 

Paulie Malignaggi explains strategic dosing

Garcia has advocated for his innocence ever since the results came to light, even suggesting the miniscule amount found in his system came from ashwagandha, which he took to help him fall asleep. However, Malignaggi thinks the amount of PED was so small because Garcia was micro dosing in the lead up to the fight when these tests were ‌conducted. 

“So, you [take] bigger dose off season which is when there’s no fights and nobody’s getting tested… And then, you are micro dosing during camp and when you’re micro dosing—it is trapped in the fat and therefore not going into your bloodstream. Therefore, it’s harder to catch you,” said Malignaggi. 

The former boxer suggested that when a fighter is trying to lose weight for their fight, the PED they might have taken can get trapped in the fat and get released in small quantities, which is the reason only a small amount was found in Garcia’s system. Later in the interview, Malignaggi also asserted that micro dosing can help boxers escape random testing as well because “it’s not going to show up unless you’re really draining yourself.”

Considering all this, Malignaggi stated, “Ryan was struggling to make the weight, and he failed right at the end, but he passed in the middle of camp.” It’s worth mentioning that Garcia was indeed struggling to make weight and even came in 3.2 pounds heavier during the fight. Also, Garcia had passed the tests, as Malignaggi said, during his training camp for the fight. It was only during the fight that Garcia had tested positive for the PED.

The next step for Garcia would be to defend himself in front of the New York State Athletic Commission, a date for which hasn’t been set yet. Regardless, the evidence against Garcia keeps piling up. 

Fitness Educator debunks hair testing from Ryan Garcia

Derek Munro, a fitness influencer well versed with PEDs and who has been following Garcia’s case closely over the last month, has analyzed the B-Sample results, sharing his verdict on the entire situation. The thing is, since Garcia’s B-Sample came out, he has presented a hair sample analysis, which seems to prove Garcia didn’t take any PEDs.

However, ‘The Flash’ has failed to provide any documentation to prove the legitimacy of the said hair testing. Nevertheless, Derek from More Plates More Dates thinks the hair testing is useless to begin with. In his YouTube video breaking down the situation, Derek said, “[Hair testing is] not really [reliable] unfortunately for him.”

Derek elaborated, “This isn’t a validated method of SARMs ingestion assessment, really. This is still new and developing methodologies around hair testing, which may be viable, but it is not a gold standard right now.” The fitness influencer also noted that hair testing cannot replace the urine testing process, which the governing bodies have put in place for athletes.

Having said that, all of Garcia’s reasoning behind why he might have tested positive seems to have been debunked by Paulie Malignaggi and Derek. However, it’s worth noting that Garcia’s trial for the doping tests is yet to start, and only the New York State Athletic Commission will have the right to declare Garcia’s guilt. Do you think Ryan Garcia will get suspended?