Amir Khan has admitted that he understands why fans will scoff when he claims that he could have beaten Floyd Mayweather in his prime.
The former Olympic medalist was a world champion professional and had a legendary career before retiring this year following a stoppage loss to Kell Brook. He never quite reached the dizzying heights that Mayweather did, which include five of the top 10 highest selling pay-per-view events in boxing history and belts at multiple weight classes.
At one point Khan was hotly tipped to get a bout with Mayweather over the line during the pair's pinnacles and was narrowly beaten to the punch by a host of other big names. Instead, they have floated the idea of doing an exhibition now in their retirement from the sport, which the American seems to be less than keen about.
Speaking on Gary Neville's 'The Overlap' show with Sky Sports, Khan claimed that he would have beat Mayweather if the pair were at their best. But he also admitted that fans wouldn't be happy to hear such a prediction, and understands why they would mock him for it.
"You know what? I'd beat him," he told a bemused Neville. "Honestly, I'd beat him. If I was in my prime and he was in his prime I'm very confident. I'm going to get a lot of hate for that, I'm sorry guys but you have to believe in yourself and that's one thing I've always done throughout my career.
"I think stylistically when Mayweather was a lot younger he had a lot of speed, a lot of movement. But I feel that my speed would have beaten his speed, my movement would have beaten his movement and he really wasn't the biggest puncher in the game so it would have been like a game of chess but I would have outboxed him."
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Khan claims that he even went as far as signing a bout agreement to face Mayweather in 2014, but that it fell through due to issues with the fight being leaked. The boxing legend instead, according to Khan, moved on to face Marcos Maidana instead of making a majorly fan-pleasing fight happen.
"When me and him were supposed to fight I remember that I signed all the contracts and everything was negotiated," he continued. "Everything was signed off and why didn't it happen? Because I announced it first before him. Can you believe that? He wanted to be the man to announce the fight, but because he didn't get to do it he said 'I'm not fighting you'.
"He went and fought somebody I'd already beat Marcos Maidana and it was quite embarrassing. I thought 'wow' but that's Mayweather and he believes in his own ego and himself so much that he has to make all the decisions, no-one can announce anything before him. At the end of the day credit it to him because he's proven himself with what he's done in the sport of boxing."
