Amir Khan has offered claims regarding his positive drug test that appear to be at odds with what United Kingdom Anti-Doping has presented to the public.
Khan, the now retired former 140-pound titlist and one of the most recognizable names in British boxing, sparked headlines this week when it was announced that he had been served a backdated two-year ban for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug last year in a test that was administered shortly after his knockout loss to rival Kell Brook.
UKAD stated that the 36-year-old Khan had trace amounts of ostarine, an anabolic agent, in his body, but deemed that Khan’s ingestion of it was not “intentional.” However, as UKAD abides by a principle of strict liability, it still penalized Khan, reducing the usual four-year ban associated with illegal doping to two. Khan has accepted UKAD’s finding but has maintained the ingestion of ostarine was a complete accident.
Yet in his first formal sit-down interview since the news broke, Khan made assertions that were directly at odds with UKAD’s statement.
First, Khan denied that he had been informed by UKAD last April that he had failed a drug test. UKAD stated that it had “notified Mr. Khan of the AAF (Adverse Analytical Finding) on 6 April 2022,” which would be roughly two weeks after his fight with Brook. Not so, according to Khan.
“I was told probably six to nine months after the fight,” Khan said. “I didn’t get told in April. I didn’t know nothing about it. That’s why it was a bit of a shock to me. I didn’t know they were going to announce that.”
Second, Khan said he believes that UKAD tested him sometime in the week leading up to the Brook—not, as UKAD stated, on Feb. 19, when the agency “collected an In-Competition urine Sample from Mr Khan after his fight with Kell Brook at the Manchester Arena.”
“It was in the fight week,” Khan said.
When pressed to explain why, in that case, he would not have known about the test before he fought Brook, Khan could offer no answer—but he suggested that if he and the organizers had been notified by UKAD at that time then the fight could have been cancelled.
“Exactly,” Khan responded. “In a way, it should have been [revealed to the public during fight week]. If [the test] was done during the fight week, really that fight should not have happened.”
When reached for comment by email, UKAD stood by its timeline of events, stating that Khan had indeed been notified in April.
“UKAD has an obligation to notify parties of an Adverse Analytical Finding as set out in the UK Anti-Doping Rules,” a UKAD spokesperson wrote to BoxingScene.com.
“In this case, this meant that UKAD was required to notify the Athlete (Mr Khan), the national governing body (the BBBoC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency. UKAD notified these parties on 6 April 2022. Mr Khan’s case was referred to the National Anti-Doping Panel, which is independent of UKAD for determination at a hearing.
“Once the case is determined by the National Anti-Doping Panel, its Secretariat is responsible for communicating the Panel’s decision to UKAD, Mr Khan, the BBBoC and WADA. UKAD received the decision on 21 February 2023 from the Secretariat of the National Anti-Doping Panel and understands that Mr Khan’s representatives received it on the same date. The announcement on Khan was published by UKAD on 4 April 2023, this was once the timeframe for any of the parties to lodge an appeal had passed.”
Some industry observers have taken issue with UKAD’s seemingly protracted way of dealing with positive drug tests. Robert Smith, the head of the British Boxing Board of Control, which works in tandem with UKAD, recently admitted that the length of the process can be “frustrating.”
Meanwhile, Brook has spoken out against his adversary, calling for Khan to receive an outsize financial penalty. Brook, who also announced his retirement around the same time, has indicated that he hopes to make a return to the ring, possibly later this year.
Khan’s doping case is the second biggest drug scandal to occur in British boxing in the last six months, following on the heels of Conor Benn’s two positive tests.