By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan is recommending that Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) not overlook the danger and risk that is involved with his fight this Saturday against Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs). Khan thinks this is a fight that could lead to Mayweather getting badly hurt by the 31-year-old Berto if he doesn’t see that Berto still has a lot of power and could hurt him if he lands something big.

In looking at some of Berto’s recent fights there’s no question that he’s still punching with the same kind of power that he was 10 years ago when he was in his prime.

The only thing that’s changed is Berto’s hand speed, as he’s gotten slower, and he doesn’t have the stamina that he did in 2005.

“If Floyd does overlook Berto then he’s in for a big surprise because Berto has the power to hurt him,” Khan said.

Khan and Berto share the same gym in Hayward, California, and they also share the same trainer in Virgil Hunter. So it makes a lot of sense for Khan to be talking up Berto’s chances for this fight, because there’s obviously a sense of loyalty for him. Khan also has to see Berto again in the future. It would look bad if Khan started telling the boxing media that Berto has absolutely zero chance of winning the fight.

Khan obviously doesn’t want to see Mayweather take a loss right now, because he’s still holding out hope that he can somehow get a fight against him in 2016. Mayweather will need an opponent or two if he decides to come back next year, and Khan would be in the running for at least one of the fights.

I doubt that he would have a very good chance of getting a fight against Mayweather because he holds too much, but he would at least have a chance.

“You never know though, after Pacquiao there’s a chance he could go in there with less motivation but he says it’s his last fight so that will push him,” Khan said.

Mayweather is good enough to beat Berto even with zero motivation. Mayweather’s overall talent advantage will be enough to beat the likes of Berto even if he’s sleep walking on Saturday night. Mayweather doesn’t need motivation to beat a limited guy like Berto.

The guys that Mayweather would need to bring his A-game to beat are fighters like Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Errol Spence and Gennady Golovkin. I think Mayweather beats the likes of Khan with his B-game and Berto with his C-game.

“It would be foolish for Floyd to go in there thinking that Berto is a pushover or an easy fight,” Khan said. I know how motivated Berto is for this fight and have seen all the graft he’s done in the gym during previous camps so he’s going to bring it on Saturday, no doubt,” said Khan.

Berto will make it interesting while it lasts, but I don’t think he’s go nearly enough talent to get the job done against a talent like Mayweather.