Mayweather has stated he will fight only once more in September and Khan, who thought he had a bout with the American lined up last year, reiterated his desire to take on the undefeated WBA and WBC champion.

“Everyone knows I want Floyd next after all the talk about it, but when you wait and hope for something for this long it can set you back,” he said. “I don’t want to overlook any other fighters, including Chris.”

He added: “I thought I worked well inside. I’ve never done a lot of work in the pocket like that and I plan to do more of that in the future.

“I give Chris a lot of credit. He came forward a lot more than we thought he would and he had a big chin tonight.

“Chris gave it his all tonight. This is the best Algieri we’ve seen in a long time, and if he’d have fought Manny (Pacquiao) that way he might have won.”

Khan dominated the early stages against Algieri but the New Yorker was always lively and while Khan was landing more shots, they did not appear to making too much of an impact.

Algieri looked comfortable and was landing well with the left but Khan was able to use his speed to counter punch and there was little to separate the fighters at the midway stage.

Despite not landing with big shots, Khan was landing often and Algieri was beginning to swell around the eye, although the American rocked Khan with a right in the eighth with the Briton responding well.

Algieri appeared to tire in the later stages and while Khan was far from dominant, he did enough to claim the win and make it five in a row with trainer Virgil Hunter.