The worst kept secret in boxing was broken by some UK media sources as early as October of last year, with Olympic silver medallist Khan set to be the 46th fighter to attempt to end Mayweather’s perfect record – which incredibly stretches back to 1996.
Mayweather, 36, has flatly denied that Khan will oppose him at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 3 on several occasions in the past, although the news looks likely be made formal in the next few days, according to Mlive.com’s David Mayo.
Mayo, who has interviewed Mayweather on several occasions in the past, even made a prediction as to how the news will be broken by the current two-weight world title holder, possibly this week.
“Congratulations to Amir Khan. You have won the Mayweather Sweepstakes. Now show up May 3 at MGM Grand and take your whuppin’. Much love U.K,” Mayo predicted on Tuesday.
Argentinian WBA title holder Marcos Maidana had been the favoured challenger to the number one boxing attraction in the world amongst fans, even though Khan has seemingly been locked in to fight Mayweather for months.
The press have been constantly put off the scent by Mayweather and his team in the run-up to the predicted unveiling of Khan as the American clamours to keep the secrecy he desires in order to be the first to break the news to the masses.
All will now be fixated on Mayweather’s social media accounts – which are the usual starting point for his ‘sweepstake’ confirmations, with Khan already stating that his portion of the deal is signed despite yet another denial from the TMT boss.
Ex-140lb champion Khan even being linked to the Showtime pay-per-view clash has caused unrest amongst a large section of the boxing public as the 27 year-old gears up for his toughest possible test for a welterweight debut.
Selling a fight involving Mayweather is the easy part for those pushing the promotional side, but building up Khan as someone that could potentially be the first to put a dent in his record will be an entirely different story.
We now await Mayweather’s next move with baited breath.
Follow on Twitter @PhilDJay for tweets of upcoming news on WBN. Read the full David Mayo story here: mlive.com/mayweather/floyd_mayweathers_path