SPECIAL COLLABORATION
The most significant news this week is the civil suit of WBC super lightweight champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) against Ryan “King Ry” Garcia (24-1, 20 KO).
Haney is seeking compensation, an undisclosed amount, for battery, fraud and breach of contract, in connection with Garcia’s positive test for ostarine which was revealed following their fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on April 20.
We remember that to everyone’s surprise, Haney lost a majority decision after visiting the mat three times in rounds 7, 10 and 11 of their 12-round clash.
Garcia was suspended for 1 year by the New York Athletic Commission and ordered to return $1.2 million from his purse to his promoter Golden Boy. The result was subsequently changed to a no decision verdict, being virtually erased from the boxers’ record.
This last decision is common, but ridiculous. The fight happened and doesn’t have to be erased. A disqualification would have been a more logical verdict that would have added a win for Haney and a loss for Garcia. This is the position the Washington Athletic Commission took in Lucian Bute’s fight against Badou Jack in 2016.
Garcia’s $1.2 million purse is only a small part of his overall purse, which consisted of a percentage of box office and pay-per-view revenues running into the tens of millions. But why did you give it to the promoter? Why not in Haney? He was the one who was penalized and not Oscar De La Hoya.
The lawsuit against Golden Boy concerns precisely this amount of 1.2 million from Garcia’s purse that the promoter recovered to follow the decision of the New York Commission.
As the champion’s contract with the California promoter stipulates that he is entitled to 47% of all net revenues from the event, Haney considers that the amount of the penalty should be part of the revenues generated and he demands his share, which the promoter refutes.
If Garcia is convicted, the outcome of this lawsuit could have a major impact on the entire combat sports industry and its participants.
In many sports, the fact that an athlete is doped does not have an impact on the physical health of his opponents, it only puts his own health at risk. For the rest we erase the results, we give the medal to the next person and it’s no more serious than that.
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Canadian Ben Johnson won the gold medal in the 100 meters in a record time of 9.79 seconds ahead of American Carl Lewis and Englishman Linford Christie.
After he tested positive for stanozolol, his time was erased from the record books and his gold medal was given to second-place finisher, Carl Lewis, and no one was hurt.
Prior to his clash with Garcia, Haney, who had never lost a fight, had won 10 world championship battles, including decisions over Vasyl Lomachenko and Regis Prograis, two excellent punchers. He had never visited the floor.
Against “King Ry,” he visited the mat three times. These three falls likely made the difference between victory or defeat judging by the scores of 112-112, 114-110 and 115-109 from the three officials around the ring.
The million dollar question that the magistrate who will judge the case will have to determine will be whether the ostarine detected in the Californian’s system was a factor which contributed to these falls and, if so, at what level?
Since this defeat, “The Dream” has not returned to the ring and there is nothing planned at the moment in his calendar. Will he be able to demonstrate that this defeat inflicted physical and mental damage on him, making him unable to continue his career?
He will also claim that this defeat caused him to lose enormous negotiating power, resulting in major financial losses.
Currently, the penalties, fines and suspensions for a fighter who tests positive for illicit substances are approximately equivalent to other sports. Is this normal?
Heavyweight boxer Jarrell Miller, 36, has been suspended three times for failing drug tests. However, he still plays in the professional boxing circuit, remains active and is ranked by the WBA as the 13th world contender.
Another heavyweight, Dillian Whyte, also 36, was also declared positive three times, including once before the fight he fought against Quebecer Oscar Rivas in 2019. The last time, it was before his fight against Anthony Joshua in 2023, but this time the duel did not take place.
The latest news is that Whyte is expected to return to the ring very soon.
It is obvious that the suspensions imposed on cheaters and even those who repeat offenses are not severe enough and have only a mixed effect on prevention.
To my knowledge, the most severe suspension in boxing had nothing to do with the ingestion of an illicit product. It is linked to the fight between the young 21-year-old American hopeful Billy “Irish” Collins Jr. (14-0, 11 KOs) against the 28-year-old Puerto Rican Luis Resto (20-8-2, 8 K. -O.) at Madison Square Garden on June 16, 1983 and presented live on Wide World of Sports on ABC.
Collins Jr. was in the spotlight because he was seen as a future big star of professional boxing in our neighbors to the south.
The fight did not go as planned and Collins Jr., virtually disfigured after 10 rounds, lost a decision.
An investigation revealed that Resto’s gloves had been tampered with before the fight by his trainer Panama Lewis, that an incision had been made on both gloves to remove padding and thus make the blows more devastating.
Additionally, Resto’s bandaged hands had been dipped in plaster to make them as hard as metal.
Panama Lewis and her boxer were found guilty of assault, criminal possession of a weapon and conspiracy. Lewis was sentenced to 6 years in prison, and Resto to 3 years.
Both were suspended for life by the New York Athletic Commission and the outcome of the fight was changed to a no decision, as if it never happened. The correct decision here would have been disqualification for the same reasons mentioned earlier.
Collins suffered a torn eye iris and permanently blurred vision, ending his boxing career. He died on March 6, 1984, when he crashed his car into a culvert near his home in Antioch, Tennessee.
In Collins’ example, the misdeed was punished according to the seriousness of the facts. I am not saying that all doping cases are the same. I know you have to evaluate each situation, but as Dr. Christine Ayotte says, each athlete must be responsible for what ends up in their system.
Whether you cheat by tampering with gloves in a fight or do it by injecting yourself with steroids, in my opinion, it’s similar. In both cases, we are illegally seeking a major advantage which risks hurting, injuring the opponent or perhaps even causing him to lose his life!
This is what distinguishes combat sports from other sports.
Now we will follow with great interest the lawsuit filed by Haney against his opponent last April.
As the industry refuses to impose penalties that could discourage offenders, a civil conviction for Garcia to have to compensate, to the tune of millions, Devin Haney for the damage caused in the ring by the improvement of performances thanks to illicit products could play the required role. Boxers need it to be adequately protected.
LUCIAN BUTE AND RUSS ANBER NOMINATED FOR POTENTIAL INDUCTION IN CANASTOTA
Two local personalities have just passed an important milestone in connection with a potential induction into the “International Boxing Hall of Fame” located in Canastota, New York.
Indeed, the former IBF super middleweight world champion Lucian Bute, who thrilled and excited Quebec fans during his 5 years as champion and his 10 defenses, appears for the first time on the list of nominations for the 2025 cohort of inductees.
The ineffable Russ Anber, “cutman” of international reputation, owner and designer of excellent boxing products highly prized by many world champions, the Rival brand, whose head office is still in Montreal, is also part of the list candidates.
The next step is the ballot for the members of the suffrage office which will be revealed at the beginning of December. Those who receive the required number of votes will be inducted in June 2025.
I would like to wish them both good luck; they certainly deserve this great privilege.
There are only four Quebecers who have deserved this great honor and been inducted:
Lou Brouillard (107-29-2, 66 KO) from St-Eugène
Arturo Gatti (40-9-, 31 K.-O.) from Montréal
Jack Delaney (77-12-2-2-2, 44 KOs) from Saint-François-du-Lac
Guy Jutras from Montreal, international referee and judge
JANIBEK ALIMKHANULY AGAINST ANDREI MIKHAILOVICH IN THE LAND OF THE KANGAROO
To watch today, Friday, October 4, IBF and WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10 KOs) of Kazakhstan faces his IBF mandatory challenger, Russian Andrei Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 K.-O.), at The Star, in Sydney, Australia.
You remember, I told you about the tender won by the promoter of the aspiring No Limit Boxing Promotions of Australia by $1000 over that of Top Rank and Bob Arum.
The Kazakh is the favorite to win, but his opponent is undefeated, and in this sense we do not yet know his limits. The quality of his opponents leaves something to be desired, but he has defeated them all decisively.
Janibek must be considered the best middleweight in the world currently, but it’s a division that is a bit in decline and its champions are not very popular. I look at his win list and there’s not much to get excited about either, but we know he’s great in a division that doesn’t have enough talent for him to shine.
The other champions are the Cuban Erislandy Lara (31-3-3, 19 KOs), 41 years old, who was loudly booed during his last defense of his WBA title. The WBC champion is the Dominican Carlos Adames (24-1, 18 KOs), nothing exceptional.
The boxer who could bring a lot of interest and who should be watched closely is the young 25-year-old Briton Hamzah Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KOs) who caused a sensation at Wembley on September 21.
In the meantime, the best middleweight must defend his crowns in the land of the kangaroos, that says a lot about the enthusiasm generated.
We are really very far from the legends of the division like Marvin Hagler, Carlos Monzon or Bernard Hopkins
BETERBIEV/BIVOL, IT’S NEXT WEEK IN RIYADH!
Next week is the long-awaited fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitri Bivol. I don’t know about you, but I can’t sit still.
This is without a doubt the best fight possible, currently, in all divisions.
We have already planned a gathering with friends, there will be a lot of us and it will be exciting!
I’ll tell you more about it in my next Friday column!
Have a nice week!
