• Welterweight

Khan favourite for Mayweather Jr bout

Amir Khan has long wished for a bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr © PA Photos

Enlarge

Amir Khan's wish of fighting pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr looks increasingly likely to be granted following strong movement to suggest the Brit will be named as 'Money's' next opponent.

Khan was ringside in Las Vegas to witness Mayweather Jr extend his record to 45-0 with a one-sided points victory over Saul Alvarez but, following a string of reports on Saturday, the 26-year-old has emerged as frontrunner to be named as the champion's next opponent - although it has not yet been confirmed by either camp.

Former light-welterweight titlist Khan had been in negotiations to fight IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander, but the American preferred a December bout with Zab Judah in New York.

Earlier in September, Khan issued a plea to fight Mayweather Jr via his official Twitter account, in reply to reports that Floyd Mayweather Sr wanted his son to fight him.

The Bolton fighter has made it well known he is heavily interested in setting up a potentially lucrative bout with Mayweather Jr, who signed a multi-million dollar six-fight deal with Showtime in February.

Khan last fought on April 27, where he saw off Julio Diaz by unanimous decision at Sheffield's Motorpoint Arena. It was his first fight based in England since 2011.

Meanwhile, Mayweather Jr recently defended his style of boxing and revealed he is more interested in pleasing himself through his performances, rather than the fans.

"It's not my fault that in my era I was able to make A-level and B-level fighters look like D-plus fighters," Mayweather Jr told The Guardian.

"There's nothing cool about taking punishment. Everybody talks about pleasing the fans, but if you don't have all your faculties and all your screws are loose, the fans are going to move on to the next.

"I truly believe I could have banged with Canelo [Alvarez] and eventually knocked him out in probably the eighth round, but I could have taken a lot of punishment also, which could have messed my career up to where I wouldn't have been able to fight four more fights.

"Look at my career and say, who's done a higher gate than me? Who's done a higher percentage than me? Who took less punishment than me? Who has been dominating for 17 years, a world champion for 16 years?

"It hurts my feelings to look at [Muhammad] Ali's situation. He fought for the people, to please them. You've got to fight to please yourself first. Self-preservation."

Download ESPN's new UK sport app, a fresh and powerful new way to follow your favourite UK sports news, scores and video.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd