Amir Khan/Lamont Peterson re-match is officially off

It’s now official. After the news broke Monday that Lamont Peterson had failed a random drug screening for the presence of synthetic testosterone in preparation for his rematch with Amir Khan, the Nevada State Athletic Commission has refused to license Peterson for the fight and therefore the bout has been cancelled.

Khan took to twitter to release the news:

“The fight is off! Sorry everyone. The only person to blame is Lamont Peterson.”

Executive director of the Nevada Commission, Mr Keith Keizer had the following to say:

“We were willing to have the hearing if Peterson requested it in writing. But just because there is a hearing doesn’t mean he would have gotten a license. Golden Boy felt it was too close to the fight.”

What does this all mean for Amir Khan, who has been in training for the upcoming rematch?

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer made the following statement:

“We are now in discussions with HBO and looking at July 7 or July 14, one of those two dates. I am waiting to hear back from HBO, but I will sit down with Amir on Thursday and we’ll talk about opponents.”

All this has to be upsetting for Amir as he was looking to undo the wrongs that he believed we done him in the original Peterson clash and put to rest that loss on his record.  Now with the failed test from Peterson, that is unlikely to happen and something Amir will have to just rationalise in his own head.

By the time Peterson is once again licensed by Nevada, the foremost athletic commission in the USA, Khan will have probably gone onto bigger things and moved up a weight class.

To say this whole business has been disappointing is to put it mildly.

From the “man in the white hat” trouble, to the drug failure, it casts yet another dark cloud over boxing which the noble art can really do without.

 Alan Pendred