Peterson-Khan fight called off in wake of Peterson’s failed drug test

In the end, not enough time remained to try to save the May 19 junior welterweight title fight at Mandalay Bay between Amir Khan and Lamont Peterson.

In the wake of Peterson's failed drug test and the unlikelihood Peterson could get licensed in Nevada, Golden Boy Promotions announced late Wednesday afternoon it had canceled the fight, which was to be a rematch of the Dec. 10 meeting in Washington, D.C., that saw Peterson win a controversial 12-round split decision over Khan, then the reigning WBA and IBF champion.

Peterson's camp was hoping to receive a special hearing with the Nevada Athletic Commission. But because of Nevada's open meeting law, which requires a minimum of three business days' notice for any meeting run by a public agency, that meant the earliest the meeting could have been held would be Tuesday.

Golden Boy, which is the lead promoter for the fight, decided that wasn't enough time to get a ruling and pulled the plug, costing the 25-year-old Khan a payday of nearly $1 million.

"We had no choice," Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer said Wednesday. "How can we have a fight when we don't know if one of the fighters is going to get licensed or not?

"It's a big blow for Amir. He had been training hard, and he was in peak form. We'll sit down with him (today) and see where we go from here. But he's very upset over all of this."

On April 12, Peterson, 28, tested positive for synthetic testosterone, a steroid and a banned substance. His subsequent "B" sample test also came back positive last Thursday. However, the Las Vegas-based Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, the organization under whose auspices the two fighters were tested, did not make the test results public until Monday.

Despite the late date, NAC chairman Skip Avansino was willing to grant Peterson a special hearing so he could try to explain the situation. However, nothing guaranteed the five-member commission would overrule executive director Keith Kizer, who has said he would not grant Peterson a license based on the failed drug tests as well as his camp's refusal to notify the commission well after the fact of his initial failed drug test.

"It was the right thing to do," Avansino said Wednesday. "It was important that Peterson have the opportunity, if he wanted it, to address the commission and explain to us what happened."

But by the close of business Wednesday, Kizer had not received a formal written request for a hearing from Jeff Fried, Peterson's attorney. Realizing that, Golden Boy couldn't afford to wait until the last minute and made its decision.

"If we had known about the first failed test back in April like we were supposed to, maybe we could have saved the fight by either getting Lamont in front of the commission earlier, expediting the analysis of the 'B' sample or finding a replacement," Schaefer said. "But how are you going to find a replacement at this late date?

"... The actions of VADA and Team Peterson have negatively impacted the city of Las Vegas, the MGM, HBO, Amir Khan and, most of all, the thousands of fans who had invested in this fight, who bought airline tickets to fly from the U.K. and the United States. I call that unprofessional."

Ticket-holders can receive a refund at the point of purchase.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.