After more than a week of uncertainty over whether the proposed super-fight between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao would go ahead, a spokesman for veteran promoter Bob Arum said tonight that the contest was back on and he was expecting an official announcement to be made on Friday confirming that it would be staged in Las Vegas on 2 May.
No more details were revealed, but it seems likely that Pacquiao – now regarded by many as the world's best pound-for-pound fighter after his brilliant victory over Oscar De La Hoya – has accepted a compromise settlement over his demand for a 60-40 split of total purse revenue for the event.
Arum had originally agreed a 50-50 split between Pacquiao and Hatton with Hatton's promoters Golden Boy, but Pacquiao was adamant he would not go ahead with the contest if he was not recognised as the principle draw. Similarly, Hatton's advisers initially refused to back down from what they believed was a binding verbal agreement for parity of payment.
Some sources were suggesting tonightthat a final 52-48 split might have been made, with Pacquiao receiving marginally the larger share of a combined purse that could be between $20-40m, depending on how enthusiastically the pay-per-view television audience.
The Hatton camp may have hastened the agreement by what seemed a genuine threat "to pull the plug on the fight", as Arum put it, and stage an open air contest against another opponent in front of an 80,000 crowd at an alternative venue.Wembley had been ruled out because of its cost and the difficulty of gaining permission for a show to go past midnight, which would have been essential for US television, and Dublin's Croke Park was understood to have become the preferred option.
The fight is now expected to be staged either at the MGM Grand Garden or the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, and the pre-fight hype will be stepped up at the weekend when Pacquiao is expected to be at ringside to watch Antonio Margarito defend the WBA world welterweight title against 'Sugar' Shane Mosley in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, the twice former WBO world heavyweight champion Herbie Hide, 37, will fight the American Matt Godfrey in a final eliminator for the WBC cruiserweight title in Cuxhaven, Germany, on 6 March.
Source: guardian.co.uk
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