Floyd Mayweather told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith that he is picking Canelo Alvarez to knock out Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in the late rounds of their bout Saturday.
He said Canelo has more experience at big fights, and that while Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. comes from "a fighting family," Mayweather said he does not have as much experience with big fights.
"Chavez has a lot of fights under his belt, but not as much experience in big fights as Canelo," Mayweather said. "He has been in fights with myself, (Erislandy) Lara, Miguel Angel Cotto."
Alvarez and Chavez, Mexico's most popular active fighters, will clash Saturday at sold out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Mayweather says everyone is hoping for a Canelo vs. GGG bout and it takes time to build to that matchup.
When asked if we are we ever going to see him fight Conor McGregor, Mayweather said: "Only thing I can do is have patience like I did before. No one thought the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight would happen but I had patience. So we must have patience. Take our time and just wait. Do I believe a fight is going to happen? I really don't know right now. But me and my side we are ready to go. So as soon as they say let's sign on the dotted line, then it's time to go to training camp."
Mayweather said he understands that part of the holdup with the fight is that McGregor has a baby due at the end of May, and after the baby is born, then "we'll go from there."
Referring to himself as "the A side," Mayweather said there is no comparison in pay-per-view numbers, Mayweather's are far more than McGregor's. As far as guaranteed purses, Mayweather said McGregor never had more than a $3 million or $5 million guaranteed purse.
Asked about fighting one of the up-and-coming welterweights, Mayweather went back to the McGregor bout and said, "This fight makes business sense, it's something that's in high demand....There's only one guy on my radar, and that's Conor McGregor."
Mayweather also talked with Smith about his friendship with Boston Celtics star Isaiah Thomas.
He said they talked yesterday and he said, "Isaiah, you will always be my friend through good games and bad. We must always stay grounded. Even though I made $800 million, I am still grounded." He said he told Thomas that he had to be the voice of his team.
"If they're doubling and tripling you, you force the other guys on your team to play hard."
Mayweather said Thomas is still mentally going through at lot with the death of his sister. "Some days I'd speak to him and he'd say, 'Floyd, I'm down.' I'm always trying to encourage him and give him good advice."