Amir Khan banned from all sport for two years over failed drugs test

British boxer Amir Khan has been banned from all sport for two years after testing positive for a prohibited substance following his fight against Kell Brook in February 2022.

Khan lost to bitter rival Brook at Manchester’s AO Arena, in what was the Bolton fighter's first bout in two-and-a-half years, when the referee stopped the contest in round six.

It proved to be the 2004 Olympic silver medallist's final fight as he decided to hang up his gloves three months later aged 35 after 34 wins from 40 fights.

But the former light-welterweight world champion had tested positive for ostarine – a drug designed to have similar effects to testosterone – after the Brook fight.

"I've never cheated," Khan said on Sky News on Tuesday. "I'm a retired fighter. At the same time you can see by my performance against Kell Brook wasn't the best, I lost the fight. If I went in there and knocked Kell Brook out it's different.

"I've never cheated in my life. I'm the one that wanted testing on that fight. Also, the amount that was in my system could have been by shaking people's hands. I don't know the drug that was in my system. Ostarine?

"I would never cheat. I'm a retired fighter. I've got a two-year ban now which is quite strange and funny that they banned me. I've already retired. I've no comeback plans at all."

Khan has accepted he broke anti-doping rules but said it was not intentional. An independent tribunal in turn accepted that argument, ruling out “deliberate or reckless conduct” by the 36-year-old.

The ban from all sport is deemed to have begun on April 6, 2022 and expires on April 5, 2024.

Khan admitted straight after the devastating defeat to old foe Brook – in a 149lb catchweight bout – that his time in boxing might well be