Amir Khan confident he'll be named Mayweather opponent soon

Amir Khan remains the front-runner to face Floyd Mayweather on May 3, 2014, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and live on Showtime pay-per-view, and the British contender and former junior welterweight titlist says an announcement is likely to come soon.

"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."

And for those who doubt the validity of a Mayweather-Khan fight, Amir is aware of his underdog status, but points to a recent run of upsets, particularly at 147 pounds:

"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."

Khan (28-3, 19 KO), though, won't be fighting Alexander or Broner, comparatively mortals when stacked up against Mayweather (45-0, 26 KO), and it will take a brave or foolish soul indeed to pick Khan to pull what would be the biggest (in terms of relevance to the sport) upset since Tyson-Douglas.

There has been some talk that Maidana (35-3, 31 KO) would perhaps enter the Mayweather race after his win over Adrien Broner, but outside of the fact that, yes, of course Maidana would like to get that fight, there's no indication that it's being seriously discussed. Khan has been the leading (and really only) candidate for months now, and it would be a surprise if he's not Floyd's next foe.