Floyd Mayweather: I'm better than Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson

Mayweather takes on Manny Pacquiao in just 11 days

Floyd Mayweather hits the speed bag as he poses for photographers ahead of the big fight (AFP/Getty Images)

Ahead of his $300m super-fight against Manny Pacquiao on 2 May, Floyd Mayweather has made the sensational claim that he is a better fighter than Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson.

Mayweather, who is unbeaten in his 47 fights, did speak of his respect for the pair, but said he could never be "brainwashed" into believing they had a better career than him.

"No one can ever brainwash me to make me believe that Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali was better than me," he told ESPN. "No one could ever brainwash me and tell me that.

"But one thing I will do, I'm going to take my hat off to them and respect those guys because those are the guys that paved the way for me to be where I'm at today."

The 38-year-old recently confirmed that bout against Pacquiao in Las Vegas in 11 days will be the penultimate fight of his career.

Mayweather has been fighting twice a year since signing the deal with Showtime in 2013, always in the months of May and September. He says that his final fight will be this September.

"My last fight is in September," he said after his last open training session before the Pacquiao fight. "I don't enjoy it like I once did. It is at a point where it is business. It is my job.

“I go to the gym, I train. I know what I have to do. There was a time when it was fun but I am to a point now where I am really over all of that stuff."

A victory over Pacquiao, and then another in his final fight in September would see Mayweather take his unblemished record to 49-0, equalling the record set by Rocky Marciano before he retired in 1955.