Amir Khan says he has been “disrespected” by Floyd Mayweather after admitting defeat in his bid to secure a fight with the unbeaten American.
Mayweather had asked fans to vote in an online poll as to whether he should fight Khan or Argentine Marcos Maidana in his next bout, scheduled for May 3 in Las Vegas.
But Khan announced on Twitter that he won’t be fighting Mayweather, although the 36-year-old is yet to provide official confirmation.
“No response from Mayweather or his team,” Khan wrote on the social networking site. “Fight’s not happening.”
Bolton fighter Khan signed a contract last December which he hoped would lead to a bout with Mayweather, who holds world titles at welterweight and light-middleweight and is considered the world’s pound-for-pound No1.
But Maidana emerged as a rival after his stunning victory over Adrien Broner, and prompted Mayweather to launch a fans’ poll on his official website.
Since winning that poll, Khan has regularly used Twitter to express his frustration at the lack of an official announcement.
And late on Friday night, early Saturday morning in the UAE, he admitted regretting not taking an IBF welterweight title showdown with Devon Alexander last December and then named Maidana as Mayweather’s next opponent.
“I should have taken the title fight last December against Alexander,” wrote Khan, who has 28 wins and three defeats from his 31 professional contests.
He added that he felt “very disrespected by his team”, before tweeting: “Good luck to Maidana against Mayweather. Can I apologise to the thousands of people who are let down. You, me and everyone wanted the Mayweather fight. He’s running scared.”
Khan beat Maidana on points in Las Vegas in December 2010, while his last outing was a dramatic points victory over Julio Diaz in Sheffield in April last year.
Khan's disappointment comes just two months after he exclusively told Sport360° during a visit to Dubai that a deal had been agreed with Mayweather's camp and that he hoped the fight would be confirmed "within weeks."
Unfortunately, it is now back to the drawing board for the former Olympian.
