Floyd Mayweather claims he is 'very,very interested' in buying the LA Clippers

NBA have said Sterling would be forced to sell his interest in the team

Floyd "Money" Mayweather has revealed that he is "very, very interested" in buying the Los Angeles Clippers.

The owner of the Clippers professional basketball team, Donald Sterling, was banned from the National Basketball Association for life on Tuesday after a recording emerged of him making racist remarks.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Sterling would be forced to sell his interest in the team.

The WBC welterweight champion takes on Marcos Maidana on Saturday night, and he has been named as the highest-earning athlete in the world for the past two years by Forbes. The unification fight against WBA belt holder Maidana is the third bout of his six-fight $250m deal with Showtime.

But despite taking on the Argentinian in a unification fight just days away, Mayweather says that he and his team of investors of seriously considering buying the franchise.

"I can't come in here talking about Mayweather only going to get 3% or 4%," Mayweather said. "I got to get a solid percentage. But do we want to buy the Clippers? Yes we do. We're very, very interested in buying the Clippers."

The 37-year-old, who has won all of his previous 45 contests, claimed that he would not move the team from Los Angeles.

Mayweather also came to Sterling's defense, denying he had any negative interactions with him despite the leaked audio of Sterling's racist comments.

"I don't have nothing negative to say about the guy," Mayweather said. "He's always treated me with the utmost respect, he has always invited me to games, always. And he always says, 'Floyd, I want you to sit right next to me and my wife'."