By Edward Chaykovsky

British star Amir Khan (31-3, 19KOs) is hoping to lock horns with former sparring partner Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38KOs) in the near future. Khan and Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, are both interested in making the fight take place in the first quarter of 2016.

Pacquiao is recovering from a right shoulder injury that he suffered during his twelve round decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 2nd. Khan had hoped to fight Mayweather this past weekend. He was passed over in favor of his training mate Andre Berto.

Khan trained side by side with Pacquiao for several years when they were both trained by Freddie Roach. Khan left Roach in 2012 and hired Virgil Hunter.

It will be interesting to see how negotiations shake out. Khan is advised by Al Haymon, who several months ago was sued by Top Rank for unfair business practices among other things.

"Hopefully a Manny Pacquiao fight [is next]. A Pacquiao fight is something I would love to have. I think it can happen. That would be a huge fight. With his fan base and my fan base, that's a huge international fight. Obviously we both want to fight, right now it's up to the promoters," Khan told New York Newsday.

Khan still wants to face Mayweather and believes the undefeated fighter will return for fight number 50. He's come to grips that Mayweather is likely not going to face him in fight 50.

"If he does, I still don't think he'll fight me, I think he doesn't want to be beaten. It would be a massive fight. I have a huge fan base in England. But I think he just wants the undefeated record, that's the reason he won't fight me. He's cheating the fight fans. He can't call himself 'TBE' ['The Best Ever'] because he's not fighting guys at their peak. Look at [Muhammad] Ali, he fought tough guys when he had to fight tough guys," Khan said.