By William Mackay: IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan complains things aren’t like they used to be with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao ever since talk started about Khan being a possibility for Pacquiao in 2012. Khan, who has been training with Freddie Roach in the same camp as Pacquiao, says that Pacquiao’s people seem worried about him and he feels that he’s being kept apart from his old buddy Pacquiao.

Khan told the Bolton News “It’s strange. There’s tension in the camp. 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…I would prefer to fight Mayweather but so many fights happened nowadays you just never know.”

Khan wants a big money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2012, because that fight would not only give Khan a big payday, but it would also make him a household name regardless of whether he gets totally blown by the arguably much more talented Mayweather. It’s a kind of a no win situation for Mayweather, because he would be fighting a guy who isn’t a big star in the U.S and who hasn’t proven himself really worthy of a fight against him.

Khan hasn’t even avenged his knockout loss to Breidis Prescott, who Khan seems reluctant to ever fight again for some reason. And Khan’s life and death fight against Marcos Maidana is still a controversial fight due to the constant breaks in the action by the referee when Maidana had Khan hurt and ready to go. The reality is Mayweather won’t get much for facing Khan at this point, because Khan is still really at least a year, possibly two, away from being a star in the U.S. Even then, Khan may still not be a big enough star for Mayweather if all Khan is facing is guys like an old Zab Judah, and little known fighters like Paul McCloskey.

Recently, Roach mentioned that Khan could be a possibility for Pacquiao in the future. That shows how desperate things have gotten for Pacquiao, because without a fight against Mayweather, Pacquiao has pretty much exhausted all the top fighters that would give him a good payday. Khan, Saul Alvarez, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and Sergio Martinez are the only guys left for Pacquiao to get big money against unless his promoter Bob Arum wants to start putting Pacquiao back in with guys he already beat like Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito again.

Pacquiao’s people are doing the right thing by keeping Khan away from Pacquiao, if that’s what they’re in fact doing, because you don’t need Khan learning all over Pacquiao’s tricks so that he can have an edge if they were to fight one day. Personally, I don’t think it makes a bit of difference because Khan would need a good chin to beat Pacquiao and that would be Khan’s downfall. I mean he would do well for a couple of rounds but as soon as Pacquiao got serious with him, it would be all over. Khan would be reduced to a bloody, holding mess, and he’d get his lights punched out no matter how much holding he did to try and survive.