Amir Khan May Move to June 30 Date After Peterson Drug Testing Debacle

Following Lamont Peterson's VADA testing popping positive for synthetic testosterone after a March test for their scheduled but almost surely canceled May 19 rematch, Amir Khan looks like he's going to move on to another date, with only the formality of officially canceling the card remaining. That has been in the works since yesterday, when Keith Kizer of the Nevada commission said Golden Boy would be ditching the card in its entirety if Peterson were not licensed to fight in Nevada.

Dan Rafael reports that Golden Boy Promotions is speaking with HBO about a June 30 date for Khan. No opponents have been floated, but it's an open date right now and Khan does need to fight soon, but he's not looking to schedule an opponent on 10 days' notice for May 19. He's out of that date, it appears.

Khan's team says they will seek a no-contest ruling from their fighter's December loss to Lamont Peterson now that Peterson has popped positive for synthetic testosterone during the random VADA testing for their scheduled but almost surely canceled May 19 rematch, and Khan's father Shah can't quite wrap his head around how Peterson didn't fail a drug test in Washington, DC, as he's admitted to taking the testosterone pellets before the first fight.

From BoxingScene.com:

"That's another thing that we need to look into. Surely there was a urine test done there as well, so why was it not picked up? Absolutely we will look into it. Obviously it's unfair because both guys were not natural guys and you could see how much pressure Peterson was putting on Amir. We've seen him fight in other fights and we were like 'wow, this is not the same guy.' Everything will come out in the open and it is coming out. They admitted it already. They said it. They admitted that they took it. I don't know why it was not picked up by the drug test, the one they did after the fight."

You know why urine tests in DC didn't catch this? Because anyone with half a clue can beat one of the urine tests that are required by boxing commissions. With testosterone, the levels allowed by commission testing are higher than the levels allowed by someone like VADA doing blood and urine testing.

Edit: As our friend Kieran Mulvaney points out in the comments, this case is not about higher/lower so much as VADA tests specifically for synthetic testosterone. That this eluded me is my mistake, and I appreciate the correction as it helps clear that up.

If this hasn't proven once and for all that we absolutely need this level of testing -- we need better, but at least this is a step -- instead of these bogus, meaningless athletic commission urine tests, then I have no idea what could convince you that it's 100% necessary.

After this, I don't see any valid excuse for any major fighter -- any -- to go about their business not employing VADA or USADA. There are a lot of fights where Peterson would be walking the aisle on May 19. But not this one.