By Rick Reeno
Las Vegas - Floyd Mayweather Sr., father and trainer of WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26KOs), was relieved that his son passed over Amir Khan (31-3, 19KOs) for Saturday's Showtime Pay-Per-View headliner at the MGM Grand.
Khan appeared to be the frontrunner for several months, but eventually Mayweather made the unexpected selection of former two-time world champion Andre Berto, who is 3-3 in his last six fights.
Khan was in full pursuit of the contest for nearly two years. He even contacted Mayweather Sr. on the phone, but their phone discussion took a turn for the worse when a verbal battle erupted.
During that war of words on the phone, Mayweather Sr. promised to do everything possible to discourage his son from selecting Khan.
"I'm so glad my son didn't get in the ring with [Amir Khan], because me and Amir Khan's father had words. And then me and Amir Khan had words and I told him - I told Amir Khan 'don't worry about my son, I'll whoop your ass.' I already told him anyway that if 'I have anything to do with it, you will not get a penny,' Mayweather Sr. said.
