West News Wire: Amir Khan, a former world champion in the light welterweight division, was given a two-year suspension from all sports after testing positive for a banned drug.
According to UK Anti-Doping, the 36-year-old former boxer tested positive for the anabolic agent ostarine following his defeat to Kell Brook in Manchester in February 2022.
Ostarine is a selective androgen receptor modulator that, according to UKAD, is intended to have outcomes comparable to those of testosterone. It can aid in muscle development.
Khan received his initial notification of his own adverse test result in April 2022, was temporarily suspended, and then was charged in July after announcing his retirement with a 34-6 record.
The National Anti-Doping Panel accepted Khan’s claim that he had not used the prohibited substance after a meeting in January of this year.
The ban is deemed to have commenced on April 6, 2022, when his provisional suspension was imposed, and will expire on 5 April 2024.
Reacting to the announcement, Khan told Sky News he has “never cheated in my life.”
“You can see by my performance against Kell Brook I lost the fight. If I went in there and knocked Kell Brook out it’s different,” he said. “If they ban me, they ban me,” he said. “I am retired anyway.”
One of the best British boxers of his era, Khan retired with a record of 34-6, though the independent panel has disqualified his result from the fight against Brook.
Khan started his career with a gold medal at the 2003 Junior Olympics and a silver at the Athens Olympics in 2004, aged just 17.
He went on to win the WBA light-welterweight title with victory over Andreas Kotelnik in Manchester in July 2009, before unifying the WBA and IBF titles with a win over Zab Judah in 2011. He lost his next fight, to Lamont Peterson, who subsequently tested positive for synthetic testosterone.
Khan later lost world title fights again Danny Garcia, Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford.
UKAD chief executive Jane Rumble the case served “as a reminder that UKAD will diligently pursue anti-doping rule violations in order to protect clean sport”.
