Promoter Eddie Hearn believes that Devin Haney’s lawsuit against Ryan Garcia for 50-100 million could act as a deterrence to prevent other fighters from using performance-enhancing drugs to gain an advantage in their fights.
On Friday, Haney issued a lawsuit against Ryan (24-1, 20 KOs) from their April 20th fight earlier this year in which Garcia tested positive for the PED Ostarine after. Ryan defeated Haney by a 12-round majority decision, which was later changed to a no-contest because of his positive test.
“It’s an interesting case. I was talking to my lawyer on the way up here. He’s suing Ryan Garcia and Golden Boy in that suit as well,” said Eddie Hearn 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 get $50-100 million for the lawsuit is unknown. That would be severe judgment.
“Sometimes, when someone tests positive after the fight, it’s quite different than testing before and not making it to the fight. But when you’re in the fight, and you’ve cheated, and you’ve had performance-enhancing drugs in your system, and it’s made you physically win the fight,” said Hearn.
The financial penalties should be much more severe if a fighter tests positive for PEDs after a fight rather than before. Just how much is unclear. The $50-100 million that Hearn is talking about might be out of this world and unrealistic, but it would depend on the judge. If a judge feels that’s reasonable, Ryan could be stuck. Haney wouldn’t need to work again, and it wouldn’t matter if his career fell apart.
Some feel that’s what’s going to happen with Haney, but not because of his loss to Ryan and his positive PED tests. They just see Haney as being too weak and fragile to beat upper-echelon fighters at 140 or 147. His only experience at 140 before fighting Ryan last April was Regis Prograis, an older fighter in his mid-30s, who Josh Taylor had already beaten.
You may have physically damaged the opponent and mentally damaged the opponent. You’ve stopped the opponent from earning money because he’s lost the fight. It’s always something that people have talked about, but it’s never something that people have actually taken to court. So, it’s going to 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’s going to be good to deter people from taking drugs because at the moment for taking PEDs is Ryan Garcia got a year. Now, if Ryan Garcia gets sued for fifty or a hundred million dollars, that’ll definitely make people think,” said Hearn.
If Haney’s lawsuit is successful for even a portion of the $100 million against Ryan, it will make fighters think twice about using PEDs to gain an advantage.
The next thing that needs to change with boxing is stiff mega-million penalties for fighters that rehydrate 20+ lbs to gain an advantage. Whether Hearn wants to admit it or not, weight bullies are just as dangerous as fighters who use PEDs, and that’s a problem that needs fixing.
The Commissions, the sanctioning bodies, must change the rules by making rehydration clauses mandatory for all weight classes with a secondary weigh-in on the evening of the fight. It’s not good that fighters only weigh in the day before a fight and then rapidly rehydrate 25 pounds to crush their opponents.
Also, secondary weigh-ins on the morning of the fight are useless because that leaves open the possibility for some unscrupulous fighters to turn to illegal methods like IVs to rapidly add fluid to their system. That’s a lot harder to do if the secondary weight check is on the evening of the fight.
