Amir Khan Believes Fight With Manny Pacquiao Is Possible

While Amir Khan says that Manny Pacquiao isn't on his radar, the 140-pound British star does believe that there is a growing possibility that the two will fight, and says he feels a tension between the two camps as they both prepare for their next fights with Freddie Roach.

"My team are cool and I’m just concentrating on Peterson but his team seem to be worried. His camp don’t want me sparring with him and now we train at different times. It’s like they’re keeping us apart. We still see each other when one comes and the other goes, and have a quick chat, but it’s not how it used to be. It’s like his people are thinking there could be a fight between us."

In the past, Roach has said he'll always side with Pacquiao if the fight were to come up. I don't it's something anyone is actively pursuing, but if the fight made sense, it would be worth plenty of money, and frankly the chance for Khan to defeat Pacquiao and make that big payday would probably be enough for him to at least strongly, strongly consider the option of leaving Freddie Roach to make the fight happen.

Which fight do you think would be better -- Khan vs Mayweather, or Khan vs Pacquiao? I'm not saying these fights are the be-all, end-all or anything, just that Khan is among the leading options for boxing's two biggest moneymakers. The issue with Mayweather is that Mayweather is Mayweather and Mayweather isn't always an active fighter. The issue with Manny is obvious. They share Roach and Alex Ariza, two very key members of both teams. Khan earlier this year tried to split from Ariza and was very unhappy with the results in his fight against Paul McCloskey, and immediately went back to the famed conditioning coach, seemingly eating a bit of crow in the process.

By all accounts, the two fighters are very friendly, and that has a slight chance of getting in the way. I say a slight chance because again, the money's going to be at the level Khan has never seen before if it comes into serious play, and I just don't think he could turn it down. If he did do it, who would train him? To this day, Naazim Richardson sounds confident -- not arrogant, but confident -- that he can train a fighter to beat Manny Pacquiao, and has said his last charge to attempt it, Shane Mosley, did nothing but show others how to do so. Emanuel Steward is always out there willing to be a hired gun. And then there's the UK's Joe Gallagher, with whom Khan seems to have a solid relationship.

It's all a pretty intriguing idea, I think, but a world away from happening right now. Maybe.