By Rick Reeno

Golden Boy Promotions is officially moving forward with their promise to overturn Amir Khan's twelve round split decision loss to Lamont Peterson, which took place on December 10th in Washington, DC.

The two fighters were scheduled to face each other in a rematch on May 19th at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Both fighters agreed, per the contract terms for their rematch, to take part in a random drug testing protocol. VADA [Voluntary Anti-Doping Association] was retained to handle the testing protocol.

The event was officially canceled on Wednesday, two days after Golden Boy was advised by the Nevada State Athletic Commission that Peterson tested positive for synthetic testosterone. The Nevada commission was refusing to license Peterson for the rematch - unless the boxer appeared for a hearing and presented a credible explanation regarding his testosterone use and the maintenance of the low testosterone ratio.

Peterson was given testosterone pellets "prior to the first fight with Khan," according to Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer, citing Peterson’s attorney Jeff Fried. According to Team Peterson, the boxer's doctor gave him the pellets after his testosterone levels were found to be low.

According to Kizer, Peterson's doctor maintained the boxer's testosterone level at "3.77 to 1" which stays below VADA's acceptable testosterone ratio of 4 to 1 and below the NSAC's acceptable ratio of 6 to 1. In other words, Peterson was capable of passing the normal testing procedures of VADA and/or the Nevada commission - and the Washington commission. Once VADA ran the CIR test, which detects synthetic testosterone regardless of the ratio level - his sample came up as positive.

Attorney Arnold C. Joseph of Joseph & Associates was retained by Golden Boy to accomplish their goal of overturning Khan's decision loss, stripping Peterson of the WBA/IBF junior welterweight titles - and having those titles returned to Khan.

BoxingScene has obtained copies of Joseph's legal letters, dated May 11th, which he sent to the IBF, WBA and Alfred Grant, the Deputy Commissioner of the District of Columbia Boxing Commission.

In the letters, Arnold notes the following:

"Logic dictates that if remnants of the testosterone inserted on November 12, 2011 were present in Mr. Peterson’s system on March 19, 2012 and accounted for a finding by VADA that there were illegal substances in Mr. Peterson that were consistent with the administration of an anabolic steroid such as testosterone, then the substance was most definitely in his system on December 10, 2011.

In light of the above, we submit that Mr. Peterson had a performance enhancing substance in his system prior to and during the Bout, and as a result thereof, the Bout result should be overturned and the outcome should be changed to a no-contest."

Based on the admission of Peterson's own attorney, who disclosed his client's testosterone use last November, Golden Boy would not be acting in good faith, as a promoter, if they did not pursue these avenues for Amir Khan.