Khan 'close to Mayweather fight'
Amir Khan is confident he is just weeks away from sealing a super-fight against Floyd Mayweather.
Khan has been holding out for a lucrative clash with the pound-for-pound number one since suffering a scare in his last fight against Julio Diaz in Sheffield in April.
And now the 27-year-old from Bolton believes the deal is close to being sealed for a bout against the unbeaten world light-middleweight champion, almost certainly in Las Vegas in May.
Khan told Press Association Sport: “It’s the fight I’ve always been after and we’re very close now, not too far away. Hopefully something is going to be announced within the next couple of weeks.”
Khan will not have fought for 13 months by the time a projected fight with Mayweather takes place, having pulled out of a deal to fight the then world welterweight champion Devon Alexander in order to pursue his dream bout.
But far from being a negative, Khan believes the time out has helped turn him into a better fighter as he has worked with trainer Virgil Hunter on correcting mistakes which were all too evident in his scare against Diaz.
Khan said: “The break has been so good for me because over the last few years I’ve been training or fighting all the time and this time I’ve focused on building my relationship with Virgil.
“Next time I go into camp I’m going to know exactly what I’m doing with him. I’ve already been working on correcting the mistakes I’ve made in the past, so you’re only going to see an improvement.”
Khan would start out as an enormous underdog against Mayweather, who stretched his record to 45 straight wins when he outpointed Mexican Saul Alvarez in September.
He would effectively be stepping up a weight division to take on the champion, and would not be doing so in the best of form after being pushed to the limit by the lightly regarded Diaz.
However Khan said he will take heart from recent upsets in the sport, including Alexander’s subsequent shock title loss to Shawn Porter, and Adrien Broner’s loss to former Khan foe Marcos Maidana last weekend.
Khan added: “Boxing’s all over the place at the moment with all the underdogs coming through to win.
“Porter was the underdog against Alexander then Broner was beaten and knocked down by Maidana. It’s the time of the underdogs. If I get the fight against Mayweather I have no doubt I can go and take it.”
