Paulie Malignaggi has long been a staunch advocate for stricter testing and stronger bans for fighters doping in the sport of boxing.
The 43-year-old has previously said that, “if a fighter does not dope, he cannot be successful. If you’re a young fighter and you don’t plan on doping, you better starting putting your CV into places like Sainsbury’s.” He has also expressed the opinion that a large majority of top fighters are using performance enhancing drugs.
Speaking on Pro Box TV, former world champion turned analyst Malignaggi discussed the career of Ryan Garcia and said he has been suspicious that he was doping even before a recent failed test.
“Ryan Garcia not doping is not fast. He’s not strong. He’s not conditioned. He’s not even good. Guy, he’s not even good. I have been suspicious of Garcia doping since probably the [Romero] Duno fight. I saw that knockout and I didn’t say this guy’s definitely doping cause you can never really say that, but there was a certain kind of power surge all of a sudden in Ryan Garcia’s career and it was drastic.
He was getting stoppages, but the Duno fight where you hit a durable guy and you barely hit him on top of the head and one leg went one went the other and he’s knocked out in the first round, I was like this guy was never hitting like that.”
Garcia fought and beat Devin Haney in April of this year. Having missed weight pre-fight, he was ineligible to win Haney’s WBC Super-Lightweight World Title, but, after three knockdowns, claimed majority decision on the night nonetheless.
That was overturned to a no contest when it was revealed the young star had twice tested positive for banned substance Ostarine – the first time in his career such a result had occurred. Garcia is currently serving a one-year ban handed down by the New York State Athletic Commission. At the time, Malignaggi said:
“If you just accept the guilty verdict and move on I think this will blow over. We don’t live in a very intelligent generation. Guys that have failed PED tests are first ballot Hall of Famers.”
