Former light-welterweight world champion Amir Khan has been given a two-year ban from all sports by UK Anti-Doping after testing positive for a banned substance.

The 36-year-old retired boxer tested positive for the anabolic agent ostarine after his fight against Kell Brook in Manchester in February 2022. Ostarine is a selective androgen receptor modulator that can help muscle growth and has effects similar to testosterone.

Khan was informed of his positive result in April 2022 and received a provisional suspension. Charges were filed in July after he announced his retirement with a professional record of 34-6. In January 2023, the National Anti-Doping Panel accepted Khan’s claim that he did not intentionally take the substance, but he was still banned on the basis of strict liability.

The ban started on April 6, 2022, when his provisional suspension was imposed, and will end on April 5, 2024. Although Khan denies cheating, the independent panel has disqualified his result from the fight against Brook. Khan is regarded as one of the best British boxers of his era and retired with a record of 34-6.

Khan won a gold medal at the 2003 Junior Olympics and a silver at the Athens Olympics in 2004 when he was just 17. He won the WBA light-welterweight title with a victory over Andreas Kotelnik in Manchester in July 2009, before unifying the WBA and IBF titles with a win over Zab Judah in 2011. Khan later lost world title fights to Danny Garcia, Canelo Alvarez, and Terence Crawford.

UKAD chief executive Jane Rumble said the case serves as a reminder that UKAD will vigorously pursue anti-doping rule violations to protect clean sport.