A couple of months ago, Devin Haney filed a lawsuit against Ryan Garcia in New York, alleging battery, fraud, and breach of contract—in connection to their fight in New York earlier this year in April, where Garcia popped for Ostarine multiple times. Now, the latest reports suggest that Garcia’s legal team has filed a counterclaim against the former WBC super lightweight champion and his father Bill Haney. 

The counterclaim issues multiple denials to Haney’s lawsuit, with Garcia seeking $7.5 million in damages. Garcia dropped Haney three times en route to a majority decision victory in April, but after Garcia’s VADA results came out, the fight was overturned to a no contest. Garcia was suspended from the sport of boxing for a year while being fined $10,000 and was forced to forfeit his purse to Golden Boy Promotions.

Regardless, Ryan Garcia’s lawyers, Craig Weiner and Reena Jain, have described the lawsuit as “wholly improper” in the 33-page counterclaim. “The [Haney] complaint is being used for perverted purposes, to coerce Garcia into a rematch, to cause economic harm to Garcia, to harm his reputation, to encourage unwarranted investigations, and to obtain media attention.”

Garcia’s attorney claimed after the Haneys called their client a coward and cheater for not agreeing to a rematch requiring Voluntary Anti Doping Association drug screening, “[The Haneys] may want to settle personal scores, but their abuse of the judicial process and harassment of Garcia has cost Garcia to the tune of millions of dollars and they must be held accountable.”

The counterclaim also denies any claims made by the Haneys about Garcia taking intravenous fluids in advance of the bout while asserting that the Haneys are not “entitled to any of the relief sought in their prayer for relief.” It suggests that the Haneys claims are “barred” since Devin Haney “assumed the risk” when he decided to participate in the fight against Garcia. 

Garcia’s attorney also detailed the part where the Victorville native had paid $600,000 for coming in overweight for the fight, especially noting that Haney was paid 2% of the event’s revenue besides his undisclosed purse. Moreover, the counterclaim, while emphasizing Bill Haney’s 48-hour deadline for Garcia to enroll with VADA previously to make a rematch, highlighted Bill Haney’s tweets. 

“Ryan, you can’t win a championship belt, so you wrap a waist belt around your arm and shoot Ostarine instead? … You know VADA will expose the truth. … Fans deserve transparency, not excuses,” Bill had written on X previously. Meanwhile, Haney’s attorney has responded to the counterclaim. 

Lawyer for Devin Haney brands counterclaim from Ryan Garcia ‘silly’

According to a report from Boxing Scene, Haney’s attorney Pat English told them that he views Garcia’s counterclaim as “silly,” suggesting that it will get thrown out in court. “I don’t believe it meets legal standards. It is so silly in my view it’s ludicrous,” English said. Since the battery claims from Haney in connection to their fight, fans on social media have ridiculed the allegation. 

However, English feels that’s just people being “ignorant.” “Battery is a legal term. I don’t understand why [Haney] should take heat on it,” English explained. “Battery means unwanted, forceful touching, and, in this case, it’s backed by a circuit-court case discussing how a fighter taking a PED without the other fighter consenting is battery.”

That being said, it appears the fight between Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia has now moved to the courtroom, and it may take more than 12 rounds to get a winner out of this bout. Regardless, it’s interesting to speculate, who would want to fight Haney after this? What do you make of Garcia’s counterclaims?