Dominic Ingle Believes The Amir Khan Failed Test, Which Broke Today, Was Down To Contamination

British boxing legend Amir Khan has been suspended for two years by the UK Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD) after he failed the post-fight drugs test for his bout against Kell Brook in February 2022.

Khan’s sample revealed trace amounts of ostarine, a muscle recovery drug. It was also confirmed today that an independent tribunal ruled that the substance was not taken intentionally, however, Khan is still responsible due to UKAD’s “strict liability” rule.

Khan has protested his innocence and claims he would never knowingly take a performance-enhancing substance. Khan told Sky Sports “I’ve never cheated in my life, I’m the one who wanted the testing on the fight.”

Brook, who is the aggrieved party, is trained by Dominic Ingle. Ingle explained to Boxing King Media in an interview today why he believes that Amir Khan didn’t knowingly take ostarine to boost his performance for the fight.

“With all the tests he did beforehand and it’s on a regular weekly basis. If he was taking that stuff through the training camp, there was a more than a really good chance he was gonna get caught out, but all his tests were clean so it just doesn’t make sense.”

“If you’ve managed to pass all these tests all the way through camp, surely he’s going to pass the test on fight night because he’s managed to get away with it in the camp, it does look like there’s some contamination.”

After doing his own research, Ingle accepts that contamination is the most likely explanation for the failed test and the negative tests in camp for a ‘highly-detectable’ substance indicate that ostarine was only present in his body on the night

“It would have no benefit on the night, it’s not a stimulant. It’s something that helps you recover, and makes you stronger over time. If you’re a regular drug-tested fighter, it’s very easily detectable, it’s in your system for 24-48 hours. It does seem, looking at it, that somebody’s given it to him without him knowing, he’s had a sports drink, something that he probably thought was safe and it’s got a contaminant in it. It happens a lot”

Ingle believes the drug wouldn’t be effective only on the night and would have to be taken for 8-12 weeks and if that was the case, Khan would’ve failed previous tests, and therefore the drug most likely appeared as a trace substance in something Khan consumed on the day of his fight with Brook without him knowing.

Ingle praised Khan for going through the correct route instead of trying to bypass the ban. “What he’s done is hold his hands up and gone ‘It’s in my system, I’ve not taken it intentionally but I can’t explain why it’s there, I can’t even put a case forward, I’ll have to take my two-year ban. He’s gone down the proper procedure and fair play to him.”

By Darshan Desai

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