FLOYD MAYWEATHER once gave talks to fight Amir Khan the boot following a row over footwear.
Khan tirelessly chased a bout with American superstar Mayweather and wasted some of his prime years doing so.
GettyFloyd Mayweather once refused to fight Amir Khan due to a row over boxing boots[/caption]
GettyKhan revealed the story to SunSport[/caption]
Khan wore custom Reeboks and would not allow Mayweather the chance to wear them
The British legend always maintained that the fight was KO’d after he jumped the gun and announced a deal before Mayweather got to.
But SunSport understands an even more childish dispute over boxing boots between the two rivals led to talks collapsing.
Both were sponsored by Reebok at the time and Mayweather wanted to wear a colour way and design exclusive to Khan.
When the Bolton boxer refused the right to use his custom boot – Mayweather vowed to NEVER fight Khan.
True to his word, the former pound-for-pound king snubbed any chance of facing the 2004 Olympic silver medalist.
And now, Khan has confirmed the argument over boots did in fact cause an unmendable rift with Mayweather.
He told SunSport: “So yeah, one of the issues was that Floyd wanted to wear the boot I wanted and I refused him to wear it.
“Obviously with the ego that he has, that’s one of the reasons that I said, ‘I will never fight you again. I’m not gonna ever give you a chance to fight me.’
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“But yeah, he did dangle the carrot for a very long time, but deep down probably knew that he’s never gonna fight me.
“But yeah, maybe that was one of the reasons as well, because at the day he saw, he’s so insecure and obviously when someone did something to him like he never forgave me for it.”
Mayweather would go onto retire in 2017 after his crossover mega-fight against UFC superstar Conor McGregor – which he won in ten rounds.
But he has continued to box in exhibition bouts since against stars of the boxing, MMA and social media world.
Khan, 38, meanwhile retired in 2022 after a crushing loss to bitter rival Kell Brook, 39, which came years after the peak of his powers.
The British icon still believes to this day Mayweather – who left the sport with an unmatched 50-0 record – avoided him on purpose.
Khan said: “Maybe he was smart. Floyd knew then that he didn’t want to fight me because I’m gonna give me more problems than he needs.
“He’d rather fight someone who are gonna be slow handed, slow hands, slow feet, you know what I mean?
“But yeah, I mean, look end of the day he’s a businessman, isn’t he? And he got very far in boxing, made a lot of money because he was very smart about picking the right fights.”
Mayweather refused to ever fight Khan Creator – [#item_custom_dc:creator]
