By Edward Chaykovsky

Former champion Amir Khan (31-3, 19KOs) sees a very big upside in facing former sparring partner Manny Pacquiao in early 2016.

Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, has named Khan as the frontrunner to face his fighter in the New Year.

Khan has been in action once in 2015, winning a twelve round decision over former champion Chris Algieri in May. He was hoping to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the fall, but he was passed over in favor of Andre Berto.

Freddie Roach was at one time the head trainer for both Khan and Pacquiao. In 2012, Khan broke away from Roach and hired Virgil Hunter.

Khan told The Bolton News: "I think Manny Pacquiao would be the priority because I don’t know how long he has got left in his career, I think he would be the first fight to take.

If the deal gets done, and Khan wins, he feels the victory could shoot him up to the top spot in the pound for pound rankings. Also, he sees the victory as possibly being enough to influence Mayweather to come out of retirement to fight him.

“Manny P was probably number two pound-for-pound so by fighting him and beating him, it might get me to be the number one pound for pound fighter and then you get someone like Floyd Mayweather who might say I will come out of retirement and fight him – imagine that,” Khan said.