Retired welterweight Amir Khan continues to take care of that his constructive drug take a look at final yr was an entire accident.
It was revealed earlier this yr that Khan, the previous junior welterweight titlist from Bolton, England, examined constructive for a banned performance-enhancing drug. The take a look at was administered instantly after his sixth-round knockout loss to longtime rival Kell Brook. The drug in query was ostarine, an anabolic agent.
United Kingdom Anti-Doping slapped Khan with a backdated two-year ban, however it’s largely redundant since Khan retired after the Brook combat and has frequently maintained that he has little interest in combating once more. Khan has recently been making the media rounds forward of his forthcoming autobiography.
In a current interview, Khan urged a potential idea for his constructive drug take a look at: that he shared a spiked drink, probably with considered one of his pals, lots of whom, Khan says, are apparently into bodybuilding.
“It may have been from ingesting from somebody’s drink,” Khan instructed Boxing Information. “Loads of my pals are on steroids, as a result of they need to be large. The brand new factor is that everybody desires to be on steroids. I might need shared a drink with somebody. However I’ve by no means cheated in boxing.”
Khan added in the identical interview that his “flat” efficiency towards Brook ought to disabuse followers that he derived any aggressive benefit from a drug.
“I didn’t need to be there,” Khan stated. “If I knew I used to be on one thing I’d have psyched myself up. ‘I’m on this, and I’m gonna be stronger.’
Information of Khan’s constructive take a look at comes at a time when a spate of different offenders have cropped up in boxing.
Welterweight Conor Benn examined constructive twice for the banned substance clomifene. Extra lately Dillian Whyte, Robert Helenius, Joe Cusumano, Alberto Puello, and ladies’s 130-pound undisputed champion Alycia Baumgardner all examined constructive for at the least one banned substance.
Sean Nam is the creator of Homicide on Federal Road: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Final Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.