Retired British boxer Amir Khan has been banned from all sports after being found guilty of having a performance-enhancing substance. UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) found a small amount of ostarine in his urine sample from the fight against Kell Brook last year.
The Ukad panel found Amir Khan guilty of two violations. The first was the presence of a prohibited substance and the use of a prohibited substance. The guilty ruling was confirmed in February, and now the retired pugilist will be under the ban until April 5, 2024.
UKAD chief executive Jane Rumble stated in an official statement, "This case serves as a reminder that UKAD will diligently pursue Anti-Doping Rule Violations in order to protect clean sport... Strict liability means athletes are ultimately responsible for what they ingest and for the presence of any prohibited substances in a sample."
He started his career with a gold medal at the 2003 Junior Olympics and a silver at the Athens Olympics in 2004, aged just 17. Amir Khan then gradually moved into the pro-boxing scene and won the WBA light-welterweight title with a victory over Andreas Kotelnik in Manchester in July 2009.
He then unified the WBA and IBF titles after defeating Zab Judah in 2011. The 36-year-old British boxer announced his retirement in May 2022 three months after losing against Kell Brook in his final pro fight. Khan was hit with a sixth-round knockout and called it a career with a record of 34 wins in 40 fights.
Addressing the ban, Amir Khan expressed that he has never cheated in his life and doesn’t know how the banned substance came into his body. While speaking to Sky Sports, Khan said, "I've never cheated in my life. I'm a retired fighter, and at the same time, you can see by my performance against Kell Brook..."
"I lost the fight. If I went in there and knocked Brook out, it's different... I'm the one who wanted the testing on the fight and also, the amount that was in my system could have been by shaking people's hands," he further added.
