Former fighter Sergio Mora is critical of Ryan Garcia after his positive tests for PEDs for his win over Devin Haney.
Mora feels that it’s a bad look for boxing that Ryan (25-1, 20 KOs) tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs after his 12-round majority decision win over WBC light welterweight champion Haney (31-1, 15 KOs).
Sergio says normally, the New York Commission doesn’t do anything unless they’re pressured and have a big fight, and superstar with money backing them. Haney has that backing with him promoted by Matchroom. Hence, he’s in a position to push the WBC to investigate and overturn his loss to make a no-contest.
The way Haney looked, erasing the loss isn’t going to reestablish his criticality with fans, as he looked fragile and he’ll continue to look that way in the future when fighting guys with power.
The Commission can’t erase Haney’s losses forever. If Haney doesn’t have the chin, power, or talent to hang at 140, as Ryan showed, he’s going to start losing, and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, may need to start thinking about dumping him overboard and focus more on Subrial Matias or Liam Paro.
“Not a Good Look for Boxing”
“Let’s collect all the facts and then we can start bad-mouthing this kid,” said Sergio Mora to Fight Hub TV, reacting to the news of Ryan Garcia testing positive for PEDs. “I believe certain fighters that have always been clean and then test positive for something that can be found in meat or whatever. But come on, not two [positive tests].
“I can pass one, but once you get two, three, and more, come on, man. You got to take responsibility. I don’t want to start pointing fingers right now, but it’s a terrible look for this kid because he’s just gotten on top of the world.”
Some fans believe that Ryan didn’t take anything, but test results were tainted to keep Haney, the fighter that Matchroom promotes, unbeaten with a zero on his resume. He didn’t lose his WBC title because Ryan came in overweight, but his record is now marred with a loss.
Even if the Commission does erase Haney’s loss, the fans saw what happened, and they don’t care about records. The casual fans don’t care, and the hardcore boxing fans are focused on how the fight played out. They saw Haney get cooked by Ryan, and that memory isn’t going away.
“He literally is going on a world tour. He’s next to President Trump and everyone else, and now these allegations and this news. It’s a terrible look for boxing. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot every time we have a successful event,” said Mora.
“Let’s gather all the evidence and see how it goes. It’s just not a good look for us. The [New York] Commission doesn’t do anything unless they’re pressured. Unless they have the magnitude of a fight and the fact that you have a superstar and money backing them. Devin Haney has that.”
Haney is a low-level star. You can’t call him a star because he’s not a PPV attraction and can’t sell tickets, but he’s more a lower-level star in the class of Shakur Stevenson. He fights like Shakur and has the same kind of popularity.
Mora Urges Haney to Seek No-Contest
“Not only does he have a promoter. He has the backing, he has the name, and that was a hell of a close fight. Even though Garcia was knocking him out, that was still a close fight. One judge had it a draw. I think that fight should be turned into a no-contest unless they can find evidence to clear Ryan Garcia.’
Mora sees things in a simplistic manner. The Commission can erase Haney’s loss, but it’s still there in the minds of fans. Only the hardcore boxing fans who keep track of records will focus on Haney being unbeaten. Everyone else will remember how he was dominated by Ryan.
That’s not going to go away. The only way it will is if Haney beats Ryan in a rematch, but it doesn’t look like they’ll fight again. If they kept fighting, Ryan would beat Haney 10 out of 10 times and ruin his career. So, it’s a waste of time for Haney and Haney to push for a rematch unless they’re just focusing on the money, which is probably the real reason they want a second chance against Ryan.
“As of now, he should start going in the direction of the Commission and maybe looking into it and getting vindicated. He was overweight, Ryan Garcia, and now coming in [positive] with PEDs, if I’m Devin Haney, I’ll do everything in my power to try and overturn it,” said Mora on what Haney should be trying to do.
