Amir Khan (L) wants Manny Pacquiao next year and no one else. (Photo : Reuters)
It is official: Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) wants Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) next year and is not interested in fighting either Ruslan Provodnikov (24-4, 17 KOs) or Shane Mosley (48-9-1, 40 KOs) this fall.
"Nah, complete nonsense, mate," said the 28-year-old Briton, referring to reports that he would face Provodnikov or Mosley in November and December, via ESPN. "We going for (Manny) Pacquiao. In talks."
Khan also said that he wants to "sit out the rest of this year" to prepare for the mega-fight with the Filipino pugilist sometime in February or March 2016.
Provodnikov recently claimed that his team is negotiating with Khan for a probable Barclay's Center fight on November 7 with Showtime Sports as the distributor.
No less than Showtime executive vice president Stephen Espinoza said that they are trying to get Khan to agree with the pairing, which seems to have become impossible already considering the Bolton native's recent comments.
Meanwhile, Sugar Shane also claimed that his camp is discussing a potential fight with Khan, this time on December 13th in Dubai.
The 43-year-old former three-division world champion, who recently came out of retirement to knock out fellow old-timer Ricardo Mayorga late last month, insisted that the Khan fight was "offered" to him and he had already agreed, as per SkySports.
While Provodnikov and Mosley's camps may truly have approached Khan's representatives, the one fight that clearly interests the current WBC Silver welterweight titlist is that with Pacquiao.
Top Rank chief Bob Arum had recently confirmed that Khan is the top priority to be the eight-division world champion's comeback opponent when he returns to the ring from surgery. Other options would be Pac-Man's stablemate Terence Crawford and British sensation Kell Brook, Arum says.
