Fans trash Floyd Mayweather after outrageous choice of final opponent in Andre Berto

Mayweather has chosen to fight Andre Berto in his final bout on 12th September, a date on which he will try to match Rocky Marciano's record of going through a 49-fight career with a perfect unbeaten record.

Amir Khan had also been in the running to fight Mayweather, but instead the 38-year-old American will take on a man who has lost three of his last six encounters.

The decision to snub more dangerous opposition and take on a man seen as a no-hoper in order to finish his career on a high has angered thousands of fans across the world.

Prior to Berto's poor run, which began with a defeat by Victor Ortiz in April 2011, the Haitian-American had a superb record and held the WBC Welterweight title.

He also subsequently won the IBF Welterweight title with a knockout win over Jan Zaveck late in 2011, but promptly lost to both Robert Guerrero and Jesus Soto.

Wins against Steve Upsher Chambers and Josesito Lopez in the past 12 months have seen him return to form a little, but BBC boxing commentator Mike Costello is still hugely unimpressed.

"Mayweather is almost immune to criticism, but he will need all his defensive guile to parry the brickbats heading his way," wrote Costello, adding that the decision "has taken some of the lustre off what he says will be his last appearance in the ring."

"Berto is a former world champion but now belongs at the bottom end of the world's top 20... Even his own father has been critical."

The Daily Telegraph's Gareth Davies also chipped in: "Mayweather may have chosen any number of more enticing match-ups, which would have more befitted the occasion: Keith Thurman, Amir Khan, Timothy Bradley, Kell Brook, Shawn Porter or even Gennady Glolovkin, the No 1 middleweight in the world who might have been persuaded to come down to light-middleweight.

"Thurman, in my view, would have been a great option: unbeaten, and the holder of the WBA welterweight belt. The world and his dog expects Mayweather to defeat Berto, and that takes something away from the fight itself... Frankly, it is just bizarre."

It seems odd to say this of a man who has spent his professional career getting punched, but this decision by Mayweather is absolutely spineless. But what else would you expect of a man who clearly has no interest in anything other than lining his own pocket at any price?