Floyd Mayweather has undoubtedly proved himself the world’s No1 boxer – and if there were rankings to measure the psychological warfare intrinsic in the sport then he’d probably sit on top of that as well.
The unbeaten 36-year-old remains silent over the identity of his opponent for his May 3 ring return and the waiting game has proved too much for front-runner Amir Khan.
Strung along for months now, the exasperated Brit blew up on Twitter late on Friday night to lash out at Mayweather, his team and then name his opponent for him, the Argentine Marcos Maidana.
Khan has long been a touted foe for Mayweather and has put his career on hold in an attempt to secure the fight.
It remains to be seen whether that has all been in vain or he has in fact fallen victim to Money’s mind games.
But should Khan now fail to land a fight he has so desperately chased, then it will rank as a crushing disappointment as raw as any of his setbacks inside the ring.
The former Olympian agreed a contract last year and even when Mayweather said he’d use an online poll for fans to decide between Khan and Maidana, it was the Bolton-born fighter who emerged the winner.
Of course there is the argument that Khan, beaten in his last two world title fights, doesn’t deserve the opportunity to climb in with the universally-recognised king.
But despite a superb win over Adrien Broner last time out, it is hard to argue that Maidana, beaten by Khan in 2010, is any more worthy.
What is clear, however, is that Mayweather’s treatment of both is cruel and demonstrates a clear lack of respect and empathy towards them as fellow sportsmen.
Mayweather hand-picking who he shares the ring with is nothing new, but to brazenly toy with potential opponents like some Caesar-like figure leaves a bad taste – even if it is all to gain a psychological edge.
You can understand why Khan is obsessed with this fight.
It’s a win-win scenario for him with it offering a mammoth payday and a chance to repair his reputation in a contest nobody expects him to actually win.
But his willingness to place his fate in Mayweather’s hands has seemingly backfired and leaves his career at a major crossroads.
He chose to snub a world title fight with Devon Alexander last December to pursue a showdown with the American and that is a move Khan now rightly regrets.
Given his own volition in his ring hiatus there isn’t a great deal of sympathy around for him, yet you have to wonder what advice he has received from his promoters.
The end result is that he looks ever more foolish and increasingly desperate.
It’s been a long time since Khan convinced anyone in the ring and he has some big decisions to make should he be correct in his assertion that he has missed out on his dream fight.
Thankfully for him he’s in a packed division and has options should he be overlooked by holy grail Mayweather.
And if Caesar Floyd indeed raises his thumb to Maidana, then save yourself the price of the pay-perview, it’s a fight we’ve all already seen.
