Professional boxer Emir Ahmatovic receives four-year ban for Anti-Doping Rule Violations
Professional boxer Emir Ahmatovic has been banned from all World Anti-Doping Code-compliant sport for a period of four years following Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) for the Presence and Use of a Prohibited Substance.
UKAD collected a urine Sample from Mr Ahmatovic, In-Competition, following his fight against David Adeleye at York Hall in London. Analysis of Mr Ahmatovic’s Sample returned an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) for a metabolite of the Prohibited Substance metandienone. Following this, UKAD formally notified Mr Ahmatovic that he may have committed ADRVs for the Presence and Use of a Prohibited Substance and imposed a Provisional Suspension.
UKAD subsequently charged Mr Ahmatovic with both ADRVs. Mr Ahmatovic disputed the commission of both ADRVs and maintained that the AAF was caused either by departures from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s International Standard for Testing & Investigations (ISTI), or through the unintentional consumption of contaminated food or contaminated supplements. Therefore, the matter was referred to the independent National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP) for a hearing.
The NADP tribunal that heard this case at first instance rejected Mr Ahmatovic’s submissions. It concluded that Mr Ahmatovic had failed to establish any departure from the ISTI which could reasonably have caused the AAF, or that there was any material evidence which proved his contamination theory.
Mr Ahmatovic was issued with a four-year period of Ineligibility, effective from 9 August 2023 (the date of the Provisional Suspension) to 8 August 2027.
Mr Ahmatovic filed an appeal against the decision, which was heard by a separate NADP Appeal tribunal. The NADP Appeal tribunal also rejected Mr Ahmatovic’s submissions and upheld the four-year period of Ineligibility originally imposed.
Technical terms and more information
Today’s announcement is made in accordance with the applicable anti-doping rules.
Metandienone is listed under section S1.1 of the 2023 WADA Prohibited List as an anabolic androgenic steroid that is prohibited at all times.
Mr Ahmatovic was bound by the UK Anti-Doping Rules after being granted a Foreign Boxer licence by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC). The BBBoC adopts the UK Anti-Doping Rules as its anti-doping rules.
UKAD collected a Sample from Mr Ahmatovic on 9 June 2023 following his bout. UKAD notified and provisionally suspended Mr Ahmatovic on 9 August 2023. The first instance NADP tribunal decision is dated 18 October 2024. The decision of the NADP Appeal tribunal is dated 1 April 2025. Both NADP decisions explain that proceedings before the tribunals became protracted due to Mr Ahmatovic’s “repeated non-compliance with procedural directions”.
Adverse Analytical Findings are defined in the World Anti-Doping Code as “a report from a WADA-accredited laboratory or other WADA-approved laboratory that, consistent with the International Standard for Laboratories, establishes in a Sample the presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers or evidence of the use of a Prohibited Method.”
The NADP is the UK’s independent tribunal responsible for adjudicating anti-doping disputes in sport. The service is operated by Sport Resolutions in accordance with its own procedural rules and is entirely independent of UK Anti-Doping (UKAD).
Please note, unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, capitalised terms used in this announcement have the meaning given to them in the UK Anti-Doping Rules and/or World Anti-Doping Code.
