Sticking to his usual boxing schedule, Manny Pacquiao will step back into the ring April 23 against Amir Khan.
Pacquiao tweeted Saturday that his camp and Khan's camp came to terms on an agreement for the bout
This comes after plenty of speculation about who Pacquiao's next opponent would be. He even threw the question out to fans on Twitter for their choice, with Khan generating 48 percent of the vote.
Jeff Horn, the unbeaten Australian (16-0-1), had been campaigning hard to fight Pacquiao. The problem is, no one else seemed enthused about the possible matchup, as Horn only received seven percent of the votes in Pacquiao's Twitter poll.
Khan gets the stage he's wanted for a long time. The 30-year-old has not been shy about discussing Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. in interviews for years.
"I really believe Mayweather thinks I will beat him," Khan told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour in 2015 (via Marc Raimondi of MMA Fighting). "And he definitely is scared. That's the reason this fight isn't happening. I really know how to beat him."
With Mayweather off the table, Pacquiao is the next-best option for Khan. This is a golden opportunity for him to rebound after being knocked out by Canelo Alvarez in the sixth round last May.
Pacquiao is still one of the biggest stars in the sport, despite being 38 years old and no longer at his peak, he has earned two unanimous decision wins over Timothy Bradley and Jessie Vargas since losing to Mayweather in 2015.
Pacquiao has been on an April-November fight schedule since 2014. He shows no signs of slowing down with Khan next up.
credit: Adam Wells