Did Justin Bieber really compare himself to Floyd Mayweather?

It's true: Pop star Justin Bieber thinks he and Floyd Mayweather are in similar predicaments.

Once you take away the jail time and other run-ins with the law, and the fact boxer Floyd Mayweather loves to bet hundreds of thousands of dollars on sporting events (he tweeted a photo of his most recent winnings, close to $350,000 on the Alabama-LSU football game), Justin says he and Mayweather are a lot a like.

In a recent interview with V Magazine, Justin says:

"Now that I'm on top everyone wants to bring me down. Everyone's trying to tug at me and take my spot. Like Floyd Mayweather, he's the best boxer in the world. Now he is a champion. Every time he goes to a fight now, people are like, 'He's going to lose this time.'"

JB also admires Mayweather's work ethic and training:

"Like I said before, Floyd Mayweather trains every day, even when it’s off-season. When everyone else just chills and doesn’t work out because they are not fighting. He’s in there punching the bags because he wants to be the best. He wants to be better than Muhammad Ali, and that’s what he’s striving to be. He’s going to go and fight even when he doesn’t have to."

Justin says he needs to be more like Mayweather in that respect:

"When I have time off I need to, at this point—I’m going to be honest: I’m young and I’m not as disciplined as I need to be in order to be the best. If I have a day off, I need to be at the dance studio, [but instead] I’m hanging out with my friends because I’m young. But when I’m in my 20s and I’m starting to really want to be the best, I need to buckle down and work as hard as these other people."

Justin is also asked: 

So no matter what Mayweather does, no matter how many people he beats, or how long he stays a champ, or if he retires or is defeated, do you think that people can ever really compare or ever say Mayweather was better than Muhammad Ali?"

He says:

"It’s different. First of all, Ali was in a different weight class, so it’s completely different. But I think it’s about making himself just as big. I mean, Michael Jackson looked up to James Brown. James Brown was an icon. And I would consider Michael Jackson bigger than James Brown. If Mayweather goes another three, four fights, and wins? Muhammad Ali lost. Mayweather has never lost in his whole career. He is like 35 years old. He hasn’t lost and people don’t give him that respect."

So, now we know who the Justin will be rooting for if the May 5 fight with Manny Pacquiao takes place. In fact, Justin retweeted Mayweather calling out Pac Man:

"Manny Pacquiao I'm calling you out let's fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see."