Amir Khan has expressed interest in facing Manny Pacquiao, but the Briton admitted that defeating his former sparring mate will be harder than beating Floyd Mayweather Jr.

In an interview with The Guardian, Khan said that facing Mayweather will be a tactical fight, while Pacquiao relies on his aggressiveness and intensity -- qualities that made the Filipino boxing icon harder to defeat based on Khan's point of view.

Khan, who is coming off a dominating win against Luis Collazo in his previous fight on May 3, is still confident, though, that he has what it takes to beat both Pacquiao and Mayweather.

"Boxing is all about timing and Manny and Floyd are getting older. Someone has to take their place. Mayweather would be a very technical fight, like a game of chess. But I think Manny would be harder. He's much more aggressive and it would be more intense. But with my trainer Virgil Hunter I'm a much better and more defensive fighter," Khan said.

Khan is still aching to get a shot at handing Mayweather the first defeat of his illustrious career, but he will have to wait as the reigning pound-for-pound king is scheduled to face Marcos Maidana in a rematch on Sept. 13 in Las Vegas.

The 27-year-old Briton is optimistic that he will eventually get his dream bout, saying that Mayweather will have no other choice if he wants to have another blockbuster fight in terms of pay-per-view.

"I know he needs me to make the really big pay-per-view numbers and money motivates him," Khan said. "It drives him because he can make much more fighting me than Maidana. I'm big in the UK, Dubai, Asia and places where Floyd's not as well known."

And as for the Pacquiao fight, the Bolton, England native believes that it is highly likely, considering the fact that Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions are now showing willingness to co-promote a fight.

"My promoters, Golden Boy, and Bob Arum [Pacquiao's promoter] are about to start working together again. Me and Manny sparred a lot, and I often went with him to the Philippines, so it would make a great fight," Khan said of the possible showdown with his former stablemate.