TSS News Wire: Jarmall Charlo Defrocked; Ryan Garcia Partially Vindicated

Jermall Charlo is in hot water again and this time it has cost him his middleweight title.

In a story first reported by TMZ Sports, Charlo, 33 was arrested shortly after 6 pm on Monday, May 6, in Pearland, Texas, after crashing his Lamborghini into another vehicle. After a verbal altercation with the driver of the other car, Charlo left the scene, ignoring police sirens to pull over, until he was boxed in at a red light. Charlo was arrested, failed a sobriety test at the police station, and was charged with three misdemeanors including Driving While Intoxicated (DWI).

This wasn’t the first time that Charlo was in trouble with the law.

In August of 2021, he was arrested on the allegation that he stole from a waitress (he absconded with her tips) following a 2 am dispute at a private martini bar and social club in San Antonio. The case was dismissed on grounds of insufficient evidence. In February of 2022, he was arrested for the alleged assault of a family member during a family gathering the previous September in Fort Bend County, Texas.

A two-weight world title-holder with an undefeated record (33-0, 24 KOs), Charlo last defended his belt in on June 19, 2021, at the Toyota Center in Houston, winning a unanimous decision over Juan Macias Montiel. His last outing came in November of his last year in Las Vegas where he won a 10-round decision over Jose Benavidez Jr, the older brother of David Benavidez. For that match, his first ring appearance in 29 months, he carried 166 ½ pounds.

In February of this year, it was announced that Charlo would fight Canelo Alvarez on Cinco de Mayo weekend, but the promoter, PBC, had second thoughts and the assignment went to Jaime Munguia. The presumption was that a second straight fight between Canelo and a Charlo would be a tough sell after the lackluster performance of Jermall’s twin brother Jermell Charlo vs. Canelo in September of 2023.

Jermell has also been in trouble with the law. This past December, he was accused of assaulting a family member. The alleged victim wasn’t identified, but after Jermell was released on bond, his wife, the former Chayne Westwood, filed for a restraining order. Jermell, reports Jake Donovan, has a May 20 court appearance.

Upon learning of Jermall’s latest arrest, the WBC took swift action, stripping him of his title.

“The WBC Board of Governors has decided to confirm Carlos Adames as the WBC reigning middleweight champion…The WBC will closely work with PBC in securing the best course of action to attend to Jermall’s needs at this moment in time. After a thorough evaluation of the situation and understanding of the facts and times the WBC may rank Jermall at Super Middle weight,” said the organization in a press release.

A 30-year-old Dominican with a 23-1 (18 KOs) record, Adames last fought in June of last year, scoring a ninth-round stoppage of Julian Williams in a bout framed as a WBC interim world middleweight title fight.

Ryan Garcia

It’s old news that Ryan Garcia tested positive for the banned steroid Ostarine prior to his stunning upset of Devin Haney in Brooklyn on April 20. Moreover, there was evidence of another banned substance, 19-Norandrosterone, but the trace of it in his urine specimen was so small that the testing agency, VADA, needed more evidence to ascertain whether it should be included in its report.

Yesterday (May 7) VADA clarified that the steroid was not present in a second test. As Dan Rafael noted, some banned substances have a threshold whereas others, such as Ostarine, do not, which means that any amount, no matter how minute, is grounds for some sort of punishment.

Talking with ESPN.com, Garcia’s attorney Darin Chavez said the Ostarine was “in the billionth of a gram range that provided Ryan Garcia with no performance enhancing benefit whatsoever.” Chavez reported that the “B” sample, at Garcia’s request, would be opened and analyzed on May 22 with Garcia in attendance. The “B” sample, notes ESPN boxing writer Mike Coppinger, is a safeguard to ensure there was no lab contamination or other error involved in the test that produced the original finding.

Garcia has subsequently claimed that he drank alcohol and smoked marijuana in the days leading up to and including the very day of the fight. “I got in there high as f*** and I beat his ass,” he told podcaster Bob Menery.

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