Amir Khan has claimed that Manny Pacquiao's team have made contact over a potential exhibition fight.
Khan was brutally defeated when settling his rivalry with Kell Brook in February before announcing his retirement a couple of months later. The British star recently bumped into boxing legend Floyd Mayweather who he claimed had made an offer to fight him in a boxing showcase this year.
Now Khan believes that he is receiving these offers too late having wanted to face both Pacquiao and Mayweather during the prime of his career. "I got another phone call about another one today," Khan told iFL TV. "A friend of mine got a phone call from Freddie Roach to say 'listen we want to get a fight now Manny didn't win the elections, let's do an exhibition or maybe even a proper fight.' They also wanted to do it in the UK.
"But to be honest with you all that bull**** chasing Mayweather and Pacquiao. I am not going to chase them now, I heard it and laughed at it because it is probably all b******* to be honest with you. But that was the phone call I got today but I was like 'alright mate tell Freddie nice one'."
Khan pursued a fight with Pacquiao for several years when the pair were both fighting in the welterweight division. The pair have even sparred at the Wild Card gym while Khan and Pacquiao were both under legendary trainer Roach's tenure.
Pacquiao and Khan were previously in talks over a fight with a deal allegedly agreed for the pair to meet in a mega-fight that would have been staged in Abu Dhabi. However talks collapsed with Pacquiao confirming that a deal was extremely close to being finalised before an undisclosed issue derailed the bid.
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The Filipino legend recently hung up his gloves after losing in a welterweight world title clash with Yordenis Ugas to prioritise his presidential campaign in his homeland. However after coming up short as a politician, Pacquiao has been more heavily linked with a return to the boxing ring.
Sean Gibbons head of MP Promotions even indicated that Pacquiao could be interested in a rematch with legendary foe Mayweather, but will depend on his plans to make a comeback. Khan himself previously suggested he would be open to a lucrative meeting with 'Money' providing his financial demands are met.
"Look, exhibitions always happen," Khan explained. "I met Floyd the other day in Dubai and there was some excitement there, he was like 'don't retire, let's do something, there's something we can do'. I was like 'maybe if it didn't happen when we were both professional fighters, maybe it can happen as an exhibition'. No-one wins, it's just a bit of fun to give the fans a bit of entertainment. I think now with boxing, it's totally changed now where a lot of these fights happen.
