Pacquiao should get bigger share of purse

Superstar Manny Pacquiao should get the lion’s share of the purse if his fight with Ricky Hatton pushes through as planned on May 2 in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao, the pound-for-pound king, is the sport’s biggest attraction and previous doubts have been erased by his big win over Oscar dela Hoya last Dec. 6.

For that fight, Pacquiao agreed to a 32 percent share of the total purse with 68 percent going to Dela Hoya, the former undisputed king of pay-per-view.

But Pacquiao, with an unbelievable eighth-round stoppage of Dela Hoya, has assumed the role as boxing’s most exciting, most bankable star today.

Boxing commentator Larry Merchant made it official through his post-fight delivery at the MGM.

“The king is dead — at least the king of box office in boxing,” he said referring to Dela Hoya who took the most terrible beating of his career from Pacquiao.

“And the new king is here,” Merchant said of the Filipino icon.

Wakee Salud, the Cebu-based matchmaker and one of Pacquiao’s ring advisers, said if it’s Hatton, then Pacquiao should get 65 percent of the purse.

“Manny getting 65 percent and Hatton getting 35 percent is the ideal split. Hindi puwede parehas (It can’t be an even split),” he said yesterday from Cebu.

“Si Manny na ang malaki dapat (Manny should get the biggest slice),” added Salud, assuring Pacquiao of another multi-million-dollar outing by May.

The fight against Hatton, the British slugger and ruler of the 140-pound division, is close to being finalized, according to Top Rank’s Bob Arum.

Source: philstar.com