Freddie Roach: 'I Never Said Khan Was Going to Beat Mayweather'

Freddie Roach said that his former student Amir Khan is not capable of beating Floyd Mayweather. Khan is close to being hailed as Floyd Mayweather's next opponent after the British boxer has received more than 20,000 votes or equivalent to 57 per cent of the total votes on Mayweather's next fight poll. Marcos Maidana, on the other hand, has gotten a little over 15,000.

If Khan finally gets a shot at a contest with Mayweather, Roach is keen to witness how ready his former student is to face the unbeaten and the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Boxing Scene reported.

According to Roach, Khan will not be able to beat Mayweather.

"I said in public that Amir Khan has a good style for Mayweather," said the Hall of Fame trainer.

"But I never said that he was going to beat Mayweather."

"I don't think he can beat Mayweather, but he can give him trouble," he added.

Roach noted and gave praise to Khan's speed and quickness in the boxing ring. However, Roach thinks that Khan approach of staying in the punching range for a little too long is the problem why he isn't going to be good enough to beat Mayweather. He said that Khan likes to stay in the pocket rather than move in, throw a couple of punches, and then move out.

"That usually costs him."

"When it costs him, he doesn't have a great chin," said Roach.

"And let's face it, Mayweather can punch when he wants to." Roach said that Mayweather exhibited his ability of being able to punch whenever he wants to during his fights against Ricky Hatton.

Roach said that Mayweather will likely opt to fight Khan, but he thinks that their bout will not really generate great sales.

"Khan doesn't have a pay-per-view audience." Roach said.

In terms of money and business, even though Roach claims that a Mayweather-Khan fight will have poor pay-per-view buys, it must be distinguished that Khan can bring in profits not only from the UK but from the Middle East as well.

Mayweather has yet to announce if he will face Khan or Maidana in his next fight. The race is still on, but which is really the better fight?

Maidana's trainer, Robert Garcia, told Hustleboss that the Argentinean boxer deserves to fight Mayweather than Khan.

"Nobody thought we'd beat Broner," said Garcia.

"Maidana not only beat him, but the way he beat him, he pretty much dominated almost every round."

"He not only put a beating on him but he also humiliated him."

"I think that win itself deserves the shot at Mayweather, honestly," he said.

All in all, neither Khan nor Maidana has really predominantly earned the opportunity of fighting Mayweather. It all boils down to the fact that there aren't really any more fighters that Mayweather can really fight with, unless of course, he gives in to the request of many boxing fans all over the world, and that is to fight Manny Pacquiao.