DUBAI // Amir Khan denies that his criticisms of Floyd Mayweather Jr cost him a lucrative match-up with the unbeaten American, whose “farewell” fight on September 12 now seems likely to feature the little-known Haitian-American Andre Berto.
The Los Angeles Times reported that an official involved in negotiations for the 49th fight of Mayweather’s career said Khan was removed from consideration because he continued to snipe at Mayweather after being asked to keep his opinions to himself.
Khan said the report was in error, then renewed his criticisms of the world’s highest-paid athlete.
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“That is false; no one from Mayweather’s team got in touch with me,” Khan said. “He can use whatever excuses he likes, but the bottom line is Floyd is scared. He knows I’m fast and can give him his first loss. Amir Khan brings more money, more fans, more exposure on the table.
“I mean, my fight against Chris Algieri got the highest-ever ratings in 10 years of a free-to-air boxing bout in the US. Everybody is criticising him for not picking me; the likes of Mike Tyson, ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler. He’s been cherry-picking all his career.”
Asked if he would consider a fight with the unbeaten Argentine Cesar Cuenca who, like Mayweather, has a 48-0 record, Khan said: “Who is Cuenca? I don’t know who he is; never heard of him. And this proves exactly my point on Mayweather: lots of unknown fighters are undefeated. Records mean nothing in today’s world, what matters is the legitimacy of the opponents you fight.
“If I wanted, I could’ve been 100-0 right now, I could’ve cherry-picked all the easy fights and remained undefeated. It means nothing in the world of boxing.”
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