British star Amir Khan (32-4, 20 KOs) has made it no secret that he wants a showdown with his former sparring partner, Manny Pacquiao.
The two boxers had trained side by side for years - when they were both being guided by Hall of Fame coach Freddie Roach.
Khan parted ways with Roach in 2012, while Pacquiao left the veteran trainer earlier this year.
Khan was scheduled to fight Pacquiao (60-7-2, 39 KOs) in April 2017 - but the contest fell apart after the investors failed to produce proof of the necessary funds to stage the contest in the UAE.
When the fight fell apart, Pacquiao would instead move forward with a fight against Jeff Horn in July of the same year. And Horn won a controversial twelve round unanimous decision to capture the WBO title in Brisbane, Australia.
Khan would be inactive until this past April, when he blew away Phil Lo Greco in less than a minute. And now he's scheduled to face Samuel Vargas on September 8th in Birmingham.
Pacquiao came back to the ring last weekend in Malaysia, and beat down Lucas Matthysse for a seventh round TKO to capture the WBA"regular" welterweight title.
It was Pacquiao's first knockout win since 2009.
Afterwards, he named several potential opponents for the near future - and Khan was one of them.
Justin Fortune, the strength and conditioning trainer of Pacquiao, would love to see Pacquiao and Khan collide before a massive crowd of 100,000 at Wembley in London.
“If I had my way, you know, Wembley Stadium 100,000 people, come on, it’s Pacquiao,” said Fortune to The Inquirer. “He (Pacquiao) brought 52,000 people in Brisbane, Australia, [in 2017], they’re for Pacquiao not for [Australian Jeff] Horn.”
“English are great boxing fans, and they love, love, love Manny.”
Pacquiao does have a very big following in the UK. He secured his famous one punch knockout victory over Manchester legend Ricky Hatton in 2009.
