Amir Khan has significantly improved his chances of fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. by joining up with the undefeated American's adviser Al Haymon.
Haymon is widely regarded as one of the most influential people in the boxing world and has been a big part of Mayweather's career for many years.
As reported by Kevin Mitchell in the Guardian, Khan said on Tuesday night:
I am very happy to have signed with Al Haymon who has not only shown that he is a very astute businessman but is extremely knowledgeable of the fight game and always has his fighters' best interests at heart.
I'm looking forward to building a long and successful relationship during this exciting stage of my career.
The Bolton fighter had previously expressed his desire to make his welterweight debut with a fight against Mayweather, per BBC Sport, who is widely considered to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.
The fight was mooted but never materialised, per a previous Mitchell article for the Guardian, despite the promises of Khan's long-time US promotional partner, Golden Boy Promotions.
At the time Khan tweeted an apology that the fight would not be going ahead:
Instead Mayweather will face Argentinian Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas on May 3, with Khan taking on Ricky Hatton's former opponent Luis Collazo on the undercard.
By signing up with former music industry mogul Haymon, Khan has drastically improved his chances of being Mayweather's next opponent.
Certainly the Manchester Evening News' James Robson reckons the former Olympic silver medallist now has a strong chance of a Mayweather bout thanks to the new deal:
The elusive American has connections with US television paymasters as well as boxing promoters, including Golden Boy, and Adrien Broner and Danny Garcia are on his books, both of whom have ambitions to fight Mayweather.
The 27-year-old Khan has won 28 and lost three of his 31 fights, per BBC Sport, with his most recent defeat coming against American Garcia in July 2012.
As long as Khan does not lose to Collazo on May 3 he should be in with a great chance of finally setting up a showdown with boxing's most high-profile fighter.
Certainly there is a great deal of clamour for "Money" to take on either Khan or Manny Pacquiao in his next fight.
And as a fight with the Filipino is highly unlikely, the former light welterweight champion is now in pole position to take on Mayweather.