Doping
05.04.2023
Amir Khan handed two-year ban from all sport after doping positive
Former world champion tested positive for ostarine in 2022 Positive test followed bout against Kell Brook in Manchester
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Amir Khan, the former world champion boxer, has been banned from all sport for two years after he was found guilty of having ostarine, a banned performance-enhancing drug, in his system on the night he lost to his bitter rival Kell Brook last year.
On 19 February 2022, soon after Brook had stopped him brutally in the sixth round of their one-sided bout in Manchester, Khan supplied a urine sample to an official from UK Anti-Doping (Ukad). A positive test result for ostarine was returned.
Ukad announced Khan’s ban on Tuesday, more than a year later, and said ostarine “is listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) 2022 Prohibited List as an anabolic agent and is prohibited in sport at all times”.
Khan, who had retired after his loss to Brook, was notified of the positive result on 6 April 2022 and he was issued with a provisional and confidential suspension. On 20 July, Ukad then formally charged Khan with two anti-doping rule violations. The boxer accepted the charge but he maintained that his ingestion of ostarine was not intentional.
An independent tribunal heard Khan’s case in late January and, on 21 February, its written decision declared that the panel found that both violations had been proved and “concluded that Mr Khan had established that they were not ‘intentional’ within the meaning of ADR Article 10.2.3 and imposed a two-year ban on him. The panel also disqualified Mr Khan’s result from the bout against Mr Brook. Mr Khan’s two-year ban is deemed to have commenced on 6 April 2022 and will expire on 5 April 2024.”
Khan was 35 on the night he fought Brook and, before he stepped into the ring for the last time, he had said: “If either of us lose, it’s something that will haunt us for a very long time. That’s the reason I’ve trained so hard. I’ve done everything I’ve needed to because I know I can’t lose this fight.”
Far more than his crushing defeat against Brook, the Ukad ruling will further diminish the once gleaming aura that surrounded Khan as a youngster. He turned professional in 2005, having won an Olympic silver medal the previous year at the age of 17, and his blistering speed, talent and sheer grit promised a glorious career.
Khan had a few great nights in the ring and, in 2009, he won the WBA world light-welterweight title. He then added the IBF belt before, in December 2011, he lost a surprising split decision to the American Lamont Peterson – who then tested positive for performance-enhancing drug use. Peterson admitted to using steroids and Khan was reinstated as the WBA champion. But he lost his title in his very next fight against Danny Garcia.
The news of Khan’s ban comes as speculation continues that Conor Benn’s return to the ring will be announced in the next week. Benn has yet to clear his name in public after two positive test results for clomifene.
On 19 February 2022, soon after Brook had stopped him brutally in the sixth round of their one-sided bout in Manchester, Khan supplied a urine sample to an official from UK Anti-Doping (Ukad). A positive test result for ostarine was returned.
Ukad announced Khan’s ban on Tuesday, more than a year later, and said ostarine “is listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (Wada) 2022 Prohibited List as an anabolic agent and is prohibited in sport at all times”.
Khan, who had retired after his loss to Brook, was notified of the positive result on 6 April 2022 and he was issued with a provisional and confidential suspension. On 20 July, Ukad then formally charged Khan with two anti-doping rule violations. The boxer accepted the charge but he maintained that his ingestion of ostarine was not intentional.
An independent tribunal heard Khan’s case in late January and, on 21 February, its written decision declared that the panel found that both violations had been proved and “concluded that Mr Khan had established that they were not ‘intentional’ within the meaning of ADR Article 10.2.3 and imposed a two-year ban on him. The panel also disqualified Mr Khan’s result from the bout against Mr Brook. Mr Khan’s two-year ban is deemed to have commenced on 6 April 2022 and will expire on 5 April 2024.”
Khan was 35 on the night he fought Brook and, before he stepped into the ring for the last time, he had said: “If either of us lose, it’s something that will haunt us for a very long time. That’s the reason I’ve trained so hard. I’ve done everything I’ve needed to because I know I can’t lose this fight.”
Far more than his crushing defeat against Brook, the Ukad ruling will further diminish the once gleaming aura that surrounded Khan as a youngster. He turned professional in 2005, having won an Olympic silver medal the previous year at the age of 17, and his blistering speed, talent and sheer grit promised a glorious career.
Khan had a few great nights in the ring and, in 2009, he won the WBA world light-welterweight title. He then added the IBF belt before, in December 2011, he lost a surprising split decision to the American Lamont Peterson – who then tested positive for performance-enhancing drug use. Peterson admitted to using steroids and Khan was reinstated as the WBA champion. But he lost his title in his very next fight against Danny Garcia.
The news of Khan’s ban comes as speculation continues that Conor Benn’s return to the ring will be announced in the next week. Benn has yet to clear his name in public after two positive test results for clomifene.
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