Retired British boxer Amir Khan has been banned from all sports for two years after testing positive for a banned substance in the last fight of his career.
Khan, a former world super lightweight champion and Olympic silver medalist, tested positive for the anabolic ostarine following a February 2022 loss in Manchester to Kell Brook, UK Anti-Doping said on Tuesday.
Ostarine is a selective androgen receptor modulator that helps build muscle and, according to UKAD, is designed to have an effect similar to testosterone.
Khan, who announced his retirement three months after the fight, accepted the anti-doping rule violation but said he had not intentionally ingested the substance. An independent panel agreed to this after a hearing in January.
His ban ends on April 5, 2024.
Reacting to the announcement, Khan – from London – told Sky News that “I have never cheated in my life.”
“You can see my performance against Kell Brook – I lost the fight. If I had gone out and knocked out Kell Brook it would have been different,” he said.
Khan, 36, acknowledged that he thinks it is strange that he received the ban when he is retired from boxing.
“If they veto me, they veto me,” he warned. “I’m retired anyway.”
One of the best British boxers of his era, Khan retired with a 34-6 record, although his result of the fight against Brook was overturned by an independent panel.
It’s a sad end to a career that began with gold at the 2003 Youth Olympic Games and silver medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004, at the age of 17.
Khan won the World Boxing Association super lightweight title in Manchester in July 2009 by beating Andreas Kotelnik before unifying the title with the IBF championship by beating Zab Judah in 2011. He lost his next fight against Lamont Peters, who subsequently tested positive for synthetic testosterone.
Khan lost world title fights to Danny Garcia, Mexico’s Saul Alvarez and Terrence Crawford.
In recent years, Khan has appeared on reality shows and is scheduled to appear on “I’m A Celebrity…South Africa” this month.
