Tim Bradley believes Ryan Garcia should have been given a two-year to life ban by the New York State Athletic Commission when they decided his case on Thursday instead of the one-year ban they handed down to him for his positive test for the banned PED Ostarine last April.
Life Bans to Deter PED Use
Bradley feels that Ryan got off lucky with the NYSAC giving him only a year because they should have given him a lot more for testing positive for his fight against Devijn Haney on April 20th.
In addition to the one-year ban, the New York Commission also changed the result of the Haney-Garcia fight to a no-contest and erased the defeat on Haney’s record, turning him back to 31-0, which made him happy.
Bradley thinks that by giving stiffer penalties to Ryan and other fighters, the New York Commission would make other athletes think twice before using PEDs.
“Deal with the consequences. A year? He’s lucky he got a year,” said boxing analyst Tim Bradley to Fighthype, talking about Ryan Garcia’s one-year suspension he was given on Thursday by the New York State Athletic Commission.
A Year is Not Enough
“It should have been two years or a life ban. The only way to stop this s*** is you got to nip it in the bud. You got to give life bans for these guys. Get out of here with that. there are a ton of guys that are doing it now and getting away with it.”
The problem with giving an athlete a life ban is that it doesn’t allow them a chance to correct their behavior and turn over a new leaf. When there are no second chances for a fighter to rehabilitate himself, it’s unfair to them, and it also hurts the sport by eliminating many of the top fighters. Boxing ends up with a bunch of marginal fighters, and it hurts the sport.
“You start doing it now, and people will start thinking twice about it. There should be a life ban because this sport is different than any other sport. For what?” said Bradley when asked if Haney should take a two-year break like he was talking about on social media.
If the Commission is going to come down on drugs, they need to eliminate the weight bullies, which is an even bigger problem and arguably just as dangerous as a fighter using PEDs. When you’ve got a fighter fighting 20+ lbs below their weight class and then rehydrating, it’s risky, and the Commission doesn’t do anything about it.
Questioning Haney’s Mental State
“If you ain’t got it in here [heart] and here [mind], take a break and do something else because you’ll get hurt. Maybe that’s what Devin is going through. Mentally, he’s not feeling it right now,” said Bradley.
“I’ll tell Devin this: When you were riding high when you were dominating and doing your thing, you had it here [heart], and you had it here [mind]; now that the stakes are down, that’s when you know who you truly are,” said Bradley.
