Amir Khan is hoping that a big name comes the table for his next fight - and that big name, he hopes, is former training partner Manny Pacquiao.
Khan is back on Friday night in Jeddah, when he faces late replacement Billy Dib.
Pacquiao, 40, faces WBA welterweight world champion Keith Thurman at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on July 20.
Provided they both win, Khan hopes to face Pacquiao in the fall.
Pacquiao has the much tougher task at hand, with Dib - who recently came out of retirement - deciding to move up by two weight divisions to fight Khan.
“There’s still big fights out there: you’ve got Kell Brook, Manny Pacquiao,” Khan said. “Some super big names in boxing that we’ve been talking about for a long, long time. One of those fights could happen. I’d be looking at any opponent. There’s a lot of options. It just depends who wants to take that fight. I’m still in that mix where I can get those big names.”
There are several investors in Saudi Arabia, and people within the government, who want to bring Pacquiao vs. Khan to their land.
“[Me and Pacquiao] did talk about it, that we’ll fight each other one day,” Khan said. “And it will happen - maybe it will happen next. It just depends on how he does in his next fight and how I do in mine.
“It’s up to the government to say yes to that and make it happen. Manny and me are friends, but it’s a business and if we’re going to go into the ring and fight one another we’d obviously take it seriously. It depends, if the deal’s on the table we will look at it and we get our advisors involved. We would make it happen.
“It’s all up to the top guys really; if Dubai wanted it, if Saudi wanted it. We have something good going with the Saudi government, but who knows? It’s such a big fight internationally that it could happen anywhere: America, England, Dubai, Saudi Arabia. So we’re keeping our options open.”
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