Manny Pacquiao wants quick victory over Aussie Jeff Horn then set up fight with Amir Khan

MANNY PACQUIAO still plans to face Amir Khan – once he gets Australian Jeff Horn out of the way in July.

Pacquiao, currently in his third reign as WBO welterweight champion, would actually prefer to face former unified light-welterweight world champion Khan first.

But unfortunately a month of fasting for Ramadan between May 26 and June 24 means the Bolton fighter is unavailable.

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Pacquiao’s advisor Michael Koncz told Fox Sports in Australia: “We’re not able to fight Amir Khan because of Ramadan, so we decided to take this fight in the interim.

“We signed it [for Horn], so yeah, we’re excited about it. But again, my preference was to fight Khan.

“That didn’t work out. We had this on the table so we decided to take it.

“Manny will train and do the best he can and, hopefully, we get the fight over with very quickly, we get out of there, we say hi to the Australian fans and media and come home.

“Frankly and honestly, and nothing against Jeff Horn – I’ve never met the kid, I don’t know him personally – but the name recognition is I guess why the fans picked Amir Khan.”

Filipino Pacquiao currently has a double role: professional boxer and politician, currently serving as Senator of the Philippines.