Boxing may have been turned upside down once more with the latest reports of former unified Super Lightweight Amir Khan having been banned for the use of PEDs. He was tested positive for the substance of enobosarm (or ostarine) after his February 19 fight with fellow Brit Kell Brook.
Amir Khan, who has been retired since May of 2022, fell to a sixth-round knockout loss to Kell Brook in their highly-anticipated but untimely match that was expected to occur a decade before when both fighters were in their prime. Despite suffering a brutal defeat to Brook, Khan has now reported to have used ostarine which is considered an ‘anabolic agent’ by both UKAD (United Kingdom Anti-Doping Agency) and WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) and is therefore considered a banned substance.
The news came by way of UKAD who collected both fighters’ urine samples after their match to conclusively return a sample with an ‘adverse finding’ which was later confirmed to be ostarine. The results were later notified to Amir Khan who maintained his innocence and pleaded his case with the NADP (National Anti-Doping Agency) who eventually concluded he had not ‘intentionally’ ― which according to UK ADR (Anti-Doping Rules) means they believe he had not knowingly or deliberately ingested any ostarine ― taken the substance. In addition, UKAD itself confirms in their own report that the amount of ostarine found in his blood was too significant to make an impact.
However, Khan did admit to having violated the ‘Strict Liability’ rules which dictate that an athlete should always be aware of what they put in their body. Given Amir Khan did not practice the necessary caution to watch what he ate or drink, this resulted in him being sentenced with a two-year ban that started on the 6th of April in 2022, and will expire on the 5th April in 2024.
Despite UKAD seemingly acknowledging that Khan’s ingestion of ostarine was not intentional, their treatment of the former British world champion is a stark contrast to how British Welterweight, Conor Benn, has managed to swerve any sort of punishment after failing two voluntary tests, with the UKAD neither confirming or denying whether they would even start an investigation on the British athlete through their official statements.
There is also a bit of irony attached given that Khan’s rival, Kell Brook, himself has no legs to stand on when it comes to drug use given his own blatant use of cocaine as exposed in a viral video leak earlier this year.
Question marks also hang around the rather untimely output of this sort of news considering Amir Khan’s ban had apparently been put on him for a year. It is also notable that the ban is fairly useless given Khan’s own state of retirement, but there is also a fair bit of intrigue here considering Khan retired the month after his supposed ban.
The news surrounding Amir Khan’s ban and use of ostarine is therefore somewhat puffed up to make it look worse than it is when considering all the information that has been presented. It is likely just a method to fearmonger boxers rather than actual progress being made in preventing or punishing doping violations given Conor Benn’s own case is still in limbo and seemingly incapable of being resolved.
Even though Benn’s entire case is much more pertinent ― given he is slated to fight in the summer of this year despite having failed two drug tests, the UKAD, VADA, WADA, BBBofC and WBC have been rather blasé about the prospect of an active fighter using performance-enhancing drugs, which given Benn’s streak of knockouts and stoppages can actually put another fighter’s life in danger.
