Garcia vs Morales II: 'Irregularities' found in Morales' USADA test, fate of fight known Friday

RingTV.com reports that "irregularities" have been found in the A sample of Erik Morales' pre-fight USADA drug testing ahead of Saturday night's Showtime main event rematch with Danny Garcia, meaning that it's possible that the 36-year-old legend has tested positive for a banned substance.

Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions doesn't want to jump to conclusions yet:

"I think that we all have to allow USADA to play out their process and I think that what is important is that we are not going have any sort of rush to judgement," said Schaefer.

"Because I don't think that would be fair to anyone, particularly not to Erik Morales, who is a legendary fighter. I think that it's important to realize that until that process is fully played out, that innocent until proven guilty is what stands."

Morales (52-8, 36 KO) lost to Garcia in March, which was the last fight the Mexican star has had to date. If it does come back here that Morales has tested positive for a banned substance, chances are Saturday's rematch is off. Garcia (24-0, 15 KO) would seem to have little incentive beyond just money to fight someone who failed a USADA test, if that is the case, and Garcia could be brought back with a different fight as soon as December, too.

Golden Boy has dealt with these issues already this year, when Victor Ortiz-Andre Berto II for June was scrapped after Berto failed a VADA test, as well as the May 19 rematch between Amir Khan and Lamont Peterson falling through, when Peterson failed a VADA test.

Maybe Golden Boy shouldn't book rematches.

We'll have more on this tomorrow, when the B sample comes back and a decision on the fight is made, but for now, my gut feeling is this probably doesn't look good for the Barclays Center debut's scheduled main event. Obviously the show would go on, likely with Paulie Malignaggi bumped to the main event, but there's nothing official on that.