IN FEBRUARY, Sofiane Khati pulled off one of this year’s upset wins when he knocked out Nathan Heaney in Manchester. Now, it has been revealed that the Frenchman failed a VADA test during the aftermath.
After back-to-back gruellers with Brad Pauls, the second of which cost him his British middleweight title, Heaney, 19-2-1 (6 KOs), returned to action in a perceived ‘keep-busy’ contest against the lesser-known Sofiane Khati, 18-5 (7 KOs).
However, things went from bad to worse for the Stoke fan-favourite, as Khati began to take control of the bout from the fourth round onwards before stunning, dropping and stopping the bloodied Briton in the seventh to silence the Heaney faithful.
Two weeks ago, Heaney returned to action with a solid points win in an eight-rounder against Grant Dennis, while Khati is scheduled to face undefeated Canadian, Alexandre Gaumont, on the Iglesias-Shishkin card on Thursday, September 4.
UK Anti-Doping [UKAD] have now revealed that Khati has served a three-month suspension from the sport after testing positive for carboxy-THC and admitting to ingesting cannabis a week prior to the collection of his urine sample – which took place after his triumph over Heaney.
In their statement published on the UKAD website, they said: “UKAD collected a urine Sample from Mr Khati, In-Competition, following his fight against Nathan Heaney in Manchester on 8 February 2025. Analysis of Mr Khati’s Sample returned an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) for carboxy-THC, a Metabolite of tetrahydrocannabinol (‘THC’), the psychoactive compound found in cannabis.
“THC is a Specified Substance that is prohibited In-Competition only. It is identified as a Substance of Abuse in the 2025 WADA Prohibited List.
“UKAD notified Mr Khati of the AAF and imposed an immediate Provisional Suspension. The boxer admitted to ingesting cannabis Out of Competition, in the week prior to Sample collection.”
As a result, Khati was subject to a three-month period of ineligibility, due to out-of-competition ingestion of the drug, which is deemed unrelated to sport performance, with that ban expiring on Monday, 16 June.
Khati will now attempt to pull off the upset from the away corner once again, with Gaumont sure to enter the ring as a strong favourite when they collide in three weeks’ time.
