Amir Khan: I have Floyd Mayweather running scared

Mayweather has opted to meet Andre Berto on September 12 in a welterweight bout that he claims will be the last of his career.

The American five-division world champion has a 48-0 record and has vowed to retire at 49-0 after he faces Berton at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“Mayweather first said to me, Amir, prove yourself in the 147-pound division,” said Khan on the Boxing Voice.

“I fought three top ten guys and beat them convincingly. Now it comes up and I say, ‘let’s get the fight done.’

“I really believe Mayweather thinks I would beat him, and he definitely is scared. I have the blueprint; I really know how to beat Floyd Mayweather.”

Mayweather’s meeting with Berto will be his first fight since he won a unanimous points decision against Manny Pacquiao in May.

“You need speed, movement, and I know people always go back to the Manny Pacquiao because Manny Pacquiao has speed and power, but what Manny Pacquiao doesn’t have that Amir Khan has is size," said Kahn, who has aired the possibility of meeting Pacquiao if he can't fight Mayweather.

“You need to be bigger than Mayweather, which I am. … He’s probably thinking, I’ve got one or two fights left in my career, do I really need a hard fight to finish? Also, he gave all the fight fans the fight they wanted, which is Manny Pacquiao.

"Obviously he beat Manny Pacquiao comfortably, but he fought Manny Pacquiao five years later. And at the same time Manny had lost a few fights and had been knocked out and is getting older. Mayweather is smart that way. That’s one of the reasons he doesn’t want to fight me. He’s a businessman. He’s afraid; he knows he’ll get beat.”

Mayweather may be doing the right thing by finishing up at the age of 38. He is probably just past his peak from where he was, and there is no point in taking any unnecessary risks. There may be a temptation to return to for one more lucrative outing to complete his record at a round 50-0, one clear of America's great heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano, but it surely won’t be against Khan.

Not that Mayweather should be blamed for choosing his opponents. He has earned the right to pick and choose. It is likely to be against another opponent who he would prefer to face, or doesn't carry an obvious threat at such a late stage in his career.