Amir Khan could meet Manny Pacquiao next year in the Middle East, according to the Filipino great's promoter Bob Arum.
Arum is due to open talks with Khan's camp in London this weekend, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph, after the Briton was denied the chance to take on Floyd Mayweather later this year.
Khan was disappointed at Mayweather's decision to face Andre Berto in what could be his final fight on September 12, and Arum has branded that bout "a farce".
Pacquiao has been out of the ring since losing to Mayweather in early May, after having surgery on a shoulder injury he blamed for his points defeat in Las Vegas.
Khan and Pacquiao were once training-mates under the direction of trainer Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California. Khan left Roach in 2012 and hired Virgil Hunter.
Khan sees the switch in trainers as a very positive move because he learned new things.
"[We] used to have some good spars, 50-50 they used to be - [but] toward the end I got the better of Manny Pacquiao - as I got older and a little bigger. Obviously me and Manny are former stablemates and sparring partners and friends. We had the same trainer Freddie Roach, so we know of each other," Khan told SB Nation's MMA Hour.
"But I've changed a lot in my style, whereas Manny Pacquiao is still the same fighter as he was - because he's always been with Freddie Roach. Having a change of trainers is not a bad thing. Every trainer is different. It would make the fight interesting though. Both of us have big hearts, hand speed and skills. That would be an amazing fight."