Pacquiao foe ready to walk out

MANILA, Philippines – If Manny Pacquiao won’t accept a 50-50 revenue split, then British boxing superstar Ricky Hatton is willing to walk away from their planned May 2 megabout according to British newspaper The Guardian.

In The Guardian’s online edition, Hatton is ready to bolt out rather than accept a smaller cut from the proceeds of their proposed Las Vegas contest.

Pacquiao has declared that he won’t fight Hatton if the revenue split sits at 50-50 adding that he deserves a 60-40 sharing agreement for being the current draw of the sport.

Hatton’s camp, meanwhile, has already reached a verbal agreement with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum’s earlier proposal of both fighters receiving a 50-50 split in the fight’s revenue.

Arum is trying to save the planned Pacquiao-Hatton match, which is expected to keep the cash register ringing once all problems are ironed out.

Arum is currently convincing members of Team Pacquiao to finally seal the deal in their May 2 fight but Hatton’s camp, led by his manager and father Ray, said they are ready to completely get out of the negotiating table if no final agreement is reached early next week.

“We have the offer of another massive fight in the summer, in the British Isles, which would bring a crowd of 80,000 or more," said Ray Hatton in his interview with The Guardian.

“We are extremely serious in our threat that we will pull the plug on Pacquiao and go for that alternative if that contract is not signed. We will not be messed around."

Arum said people surrounding Pacquiao is muddling the planned fight. “We've all agreed to it (50-50 revenue split), but now people are whispering in Pacquiao's ear. There's no way he's getting 60–40. Unless he comes to his senses and people start acting intelligently... we'll see if we can keep this together, but the split is supposed to be 50–50."

Even Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, is also trying to convince his ward to agree on the 50-50 terms of the expected mega-buck deal.

“I hope the fight happens, and I think 50–50 is a good deal. I agree with it because Hatton brings a lot of people from the UK, so I hope I can get Manny on board," Roach said.

Both fighters are expected to rake in no less than $10 to $20 million if the fight pushes through with a significant amount expected coming from the revenue collected from UK pay-per-viewers. – GMANews.TV

Source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/144620/Report-Pacquiao-foe-ready-to-walk-out

Social Bookmarking