Manny Pacquiao’s representatives have denied the Filipino has signed a contract to fight Amir Khan in Saudi Arabia later this year.
Earlier on Tuesday, Khan told media in England that both parties had agreed to meet one another in Riyadh on November 8, although the bout could be dependent on Pacquiao?s clash with Keith Thurman this weekend. Boxing’s only eight-division world champion, now 40, faces the undefeated American in a WBA world welterweight title match in Las Vegas on Saturday (Sunday UAE time).
However, when contacted for a response to Khan’s comments, Pacquiao?s publicist Fred Sternburg told The National: ?Manny has not signed a contract for that fight.?
Khan, 32, fought in Jeddah on Friday, when he stopped Australia?s Billy Dib in the fourth round of their WBC International title bout. After the fight, Khan said he hoped to return to The Kingdom to take on Pacquiao.
On Tuesday, he told PA Sport: ?The next fight is going to be back in Saudi Arabia again, Riyadh this time, it?s going to be November 8. Hopefully it could be the Manny Pacquiao fight, we have both signed that the fight is done, hopefully he gets past his fight this weekend.?
The two boxers, former sparring partners, have been tipped to fight many times before, with a proposed bout in 2017, provisionally scheduled to take place in Dubai, never materialising.
The Thurman match-up represents the second of a three-fight contract Pacquiao signed last October with Premier Boxing Champions. Should he see off Thurman, Pacquiao is understood to have set sights on IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr.
