Dubai: Former unified light-welterweight world champion Amir Khan has indicated he may fight Philippine boxing great Manny Pacquiao in the UAE.
?I am ready to fight Pacquiao anytime. He is a great champion and I want to fight him. I can fight him in Dubai, Abu Dhabi anywhere he wants.
?Last time also we had come pretty close to fighting each other but the plan did not work out. So this time around I hope things will go through smoothly,? said Amir.
?I think the bout can happen anytime within a year and I will leave it to my team to sit and finalise it with Pacquiao?s agent Bob Arum.?
There were strong rumours of an Amir-Pacquiao showdown in the UAE this month. Both the pugilists had taken to their Twitter accounts to declare the same, fanning speculation. However, things did not materialise and one of the most eagerly awaited fights of the decade never took place.
Amir has once again reignited hopes of fighting the Philippine icon in the UAE. He was speaking on the sidelines of a red carpet event hosted by fashsouq, an apparel online retail chain, to mark the opening of Mike Tyson?s boxing academy in Dubai. Amir also vowed to follow in Tyson?s footsteps and promised to come up with his own academy in the country very soon.
Pacquiao (59-6-2) claimed the WBO title with a unanimous points victory over American Jessie Vargas in Las Vegas last November, while the 30-year-old Khan (31-4) has not fought since May 2016. Khan made an audacious step towards a middleweight bout with Canelo Alvarez but the Briton was knocked out by his hard-hitting Mexican opponent in the sixth round.
