Roach backs Khan to shock Mayweather

Amir Khan's trainer Freddie Roach believes the Bolton boxer will be too quick for Floyd Mayweather if they meet later this year.

Khan was set to take on Lamont Peterson in a rematch on May 19 but that bout has now been cancelled after Peterson failed a drugs test. The British boxer is now expected to return to the ring at the end of June, or in early July, with WBC light-welterweight champion Danny Garcia tipped to be his opponent. Peterson was stripped of the WBA and IBF titles and both those belts will be on the line when Khan next fights, and if he leaves the division to step up to welterweight as a triple champion - if Garcia is indeed his next opponent - it may convince Mayweather to take on Khan. Roach feels the fact Khan's showdown with Peterson has been called off will not affect his chances of a match-up with Mayweather, and the trainer believes Khan has all the right tools to get the better of the unbeaten American star. "If it's Garcia, Amir will be too fast and hard-punching for him," Roach told the Daily Mail. "Whoever it is, we'll do this one more fight and then go up to welterweight to look for Floyd Mayweather. I see Floyd's legs beginning to go [at 35] and him slowing up a little. If we get him as early as December, Amir can beat him."