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Amir Khan could upset Floyd Mayweather, according to super middleweight contender Paul Smith Reuters/Andrew Couldridge Livepic

Super middleweight contender Paul Smith believes that fellow British boxer Amir Khan will be able to give Floyd Mayweather a run for his money.

Khan was already in the mix of things even before Money faced Manny Pacquiao in May. And now that the American has already dealt with who was perceived to be his toughest foe, the former Olympics silver medalist could possibly be given a shot in realizing his dream fight.

"Amir wants to fight Mayweather; Kell wants to fight Amir...if I was Amir Khan, I'd sit and wait as long as I could to fight Mayweather...he's got a great chance of upsetting Mayweather," Smith told Fight Hype.

Smith elaborated that Khan's hand speed, among other factors, will give the slowed-down 38-year-old difficulty inside the ring. However, getting the fighters locked in is a different story, as Mayweather may no longer be interested in a fight without Pacquiao on the opposite end of the ring, with the concluded megabout generating a reported revenue of over £500 million.

The Bolton, Greater Manchester native defeated Chris Algieri on May 29 via a unanimous decision, suggesting a dominating performance if only the scorecards (115-113, 117-111 and 117-111) are to be relied on. But his former trainer, Freddie Roach, saw things differently, believing that the 28-year-old was unconvincing.

“He’ll [Khan] never get Mayweather off that performance. He was terrible. It was boring,” Roach was quoted on Newsday.com.

While Khan may be the favorite, next to Pacquiao, to be picked as Mayweather's next opponent, up-and-coming compatriot Kell Brook may get in his way, as the latter is ranked as the number one contender in the welterweight division by The Ring magazine. Brook is still undefeated with a 35-0 win-loss record, 24 of which won via knockout, whereas Khan has consecutively won his previous five fights after being beaten by Danny Garcia in 2012.

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To contact author of this article, email m.eubank@ibtimes.com.au.