Amir Khan says Floyd Mayweather is afraid to fight him

IT is hard to imagine Floyd Mayweather being scared of anyone, however one would-be opponent is convinced he has the undefeated champ shaking in his boots.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, and Andre Berto pose at a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. Mayweather says Berto is a worthy opponent for the final fight of his perfect career. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

ONE of Floyd Mayweather’s would-be opponents has made some rather sweeping claims as to why the five-division world champion won’t fight him.

In an interview withmmafighting.com, former light welterweight world champion Amir Khan said he thinks Mayweather is wary the Englishman may get the better of him.

“I really believe Mayweather thinks I will beat him,” Khan said.

“And he definitely is scared. That’s the reason this fight isn’t happening. I really know how to beat him.”

Khan had been rumoured as a potential candidate for Mayweather’s last fight, having claimed to have spoken with Mayweather’s management to arrange a fight earlier this year.

But in July the American announced his final opponent would be 31-year-old Andre Berto at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on September 12.

Khan told Ariel Helwani of mmafighting.com that he had a significant advantage over Mayweather, which made him a major threat.

“You need to be physically bigger than Floyd Mayweather as well,” he said.

“And I am. I think Floyd knowing all these advantages I have, he’s probably thinking, ‘I’ve only got one or two fights left in my career, do I really need a hard fight to finish this sport with?’”

The former British Olympic boxer is convinced Mayweather’s refusal to fight him is based on pure business logic — why go out losing?

“He’s a businessman,” Khan said.

“He’s afraid. He knows he’ll get beat, so why would he meet someone like Amir Khan? Financially he would make a lot of money, but I don’t know what it is.”

Speaking tosportingnews.comearlier this week, Khan showed he is far from over the hurt of being rejected by Mayweather, calling him a liar after he won a 2014 fan-voted poll which elected him to fight the American over fellow boxer Marcos Maidana, only to have Mayweather later refuse the fight.

“I remember the time he picked Maidana over me even though I won the votes on the internet and he still didn’t pick me,” Khan said.

“Fight fans should realise that Floyd is a liar. First when he said I’m going to let the fans pick who I fight, he didn’t do what he said he was going to do because the fight fans voted and they all voted Amir Khan. And he still picked Maidana, someone who I’ve already beaten, put down and gave him a beating and beat him in a better style than Floyd Mayweather beat him.”

Khan is allegedly chasing a clash with Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao, however no dates have yet been arranged.

The Englishman was appearing on The MMA Hour to advertise his co-ownership in the Super Fight League MMA, an Indian-based fighting league. Khan said the league will look to run a total of 52 events commencing next year.