Khan-Soto eyed for April 20

Negotiations are ongoing for a potential April 20 clash between former IBF and WBA junior welterweight titleholder Amir Khan and ex-WBC junior lightweight and lightweight beltholder Humberto Soto, of Mexico, to happen in England, according to Soto's manager and counsel, Michael Miller.

Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who promotes Khan (27-3, 19 knockouts), could not be reached for an immediate comment.

"I just spoke to Richard Schaefer yesterday. He asked me if Soto would be interested. I said 'Let me contact him, and I'll get back to you.' So I contacted Soto, and he said that he was interested. Soto wanted to know how many rounds -- 10 or 12 -- and what the purse would be," said Miller.

"So I called Richard and told him Soto was interested, and I asked him how many rounds it would be, and what the purse would be. Richard said 'Let me go to work on it.' We'll let Amir confirm that he's in, because Soto's in. After that, let's find out what the mathematics are and see if that makes sense. If all of that makes sense, then we're in."

Khan is coming off last month's 10th-round stoppage of Carlos Molina (18-1-1, 7 KOs), of Norwalk, Calif., that represented his first fight under reigning Trainer of the Year Virgil Hunter.

The 26-year-old Olympic silver medalist from England, Khan had lost two straight following last December's controversial split-decision setback against Lamont Peterson and July's fourth-round knockout loss to Danny Garcia, who picked up Khan's WBA belt and retained the division's RING championship and WBC crown.

Soto (59-8-2, 34 KOs) weighed 147 pounds for his last fight, November's unanimous decision victory over Jose Lopez that helped him to rebound from June's fifth-round stoppage loss to hard-hitting junior welterweight contender Lucas Matthysse (32-2, 30 KOs), of Argentina.

Soto, 32, entered the bout with Matthysse while riding a 15-bout winning streak that included six knockouts.

Lem Satterfield can be reached at lemuel.satterfield@gmail.com