By Edward Chaykovsky
Amir Khan is giving his friend and gym stablemate, Andre Berto, a shot to pull of a huge upset on September 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where he challenges the pound-for-pound king of boxing, Floyd Mayweather Jr., for the WBC/WBA welterweight titles.
Khan was hoping to get the shot himself after two years of chasing. Instead, Mayweather announced Berto as the Showtime Pay-Per-View opponent.
Berto and Khan are both trained by Virgil Hunter in the Bay Area. Oddsmakers have Mayweather as low as a 40-1 and as high as 80-1 favorite to win. Berto is 3-3 in his last six fights and returns from a June six round TKO victory over Josesito Lopez.
"Berto is a friend of mine. We train together in the gym. I think anyone in a fight stands a chance. The best sometimes get beat. It takes that one punch. He does have a chance. I'm sure he's training hard. I'm going to be supporting him and helping him if I can. He can pull it off. Mayweather is getting old now. You just don't know when it's your time. It might happen to Mayweather. Berto has decent speed. He's a little shorter than Mayweather, but he's quick [and] he has decent power," Khan told SB Nation's MMA Hour.