Amir Khan has for the first time expressed doubt as to whether a 2014 fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr will materialise, stating he already has intentions of lining up a Plan B replacement.
Speaking to Sportmasta.com, Khan revealed Mayweather's delaying tactics were beginning to force his hand and, despite believing he would eventually get a fight with the unbeaten light-middleweight champion, stated he was beginning to consider his options elsewhere.
"I'll still fight in May regardless of whatever happens. Early May or end of April, I want to fight because I want to keep myself busy," Khan said. "We're going to get a Plan B opponent, hopefully take that fight, and still work our way towards a Mayweather fight.
"Look, the aim and the goal is to fight Floyd Mayweather and to keep working towards that fight. If we don't get the fight, then we just have to go to Plan B really and we have to just kind of stay strong mentally.
"I mean, everything happens for a reason and maybe it's not the right time, so you just move on and then you just get a new opponent. It's not going to faze me."
A bout between Khan and Mayweather has long been touted, while Khan recently topped a Twitter poll set up by the American which asked his fans who he should fight next.
Khan scooped 60% of the 35,000 votes ahead of his former opponent Marcos Maidana, although Mayweather is remaining non-committal over who his next opponent will be. Recent rumours suggested Mayweather and Maidana had agreed a deal for a Las Vegas fight around May 3, but Maidana denied the reports as "not accurate"on Sunday.
However, Khan believes Mayweather, who is unbeaten in 45 fights as a professional, has used both his and Maidana's name to promote a potential fight across the globe and further hype his cause.
"At one time, I thought I was 100% to get the fight," Khan said. "Then Maidana's name popped up, but I still thought, you know, [Adrien] Broner and Mayweather are close, so it won't happen. I mean, look, if you think about it, even though he's not announced the fight, he's still promoting the fight in two different parts of the world, with Maidana being on one side and me being on the other side of the world.
"He's getting coverage from different countries and different parts of the world all the time. The UK press is putting in the newspaper whatever little thing Floyd is saying about me, and whatever Floyd says about Maidana, that's in the press in Argentina. He's doing it the smart way where he's getting a lot of publicity from it even though he's not announced the fight."
"I'll tell you one thing, we'd take it to a different level if I get to fight Floyd Mayweather. I'd get the whole nation behind me. I mean, I know how to sell a fight; I know how to make a big fight. I mean, the biggest pay-per-view numbers in the UK is me."
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