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The superfight between Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and Ricky
Hatton of the United Kingdom may be as good as dead as of now.
According to The Ring online, Hatton gave
Pacquiao until Wednesday morning United Kingdom time to sign the
deal for their May 2 fight in Las Vegas.
However, the state-run Philippine News Agency
reported that Bob Arum, the boss of Top Rank Promotions, said
Wednesday that the fight is off as of now.
The article said Arum told the philboxing.com
that Richard Schaefer, the chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions,
was informed by the Hatton camp that they will be holding a press
conference Thursday morning London time, to announce that they are
not pushing the superbout anymore.
“If you ask me now, I don’t think
[Hatton-Pacquiao] is going to happen,” Schaefer was quoted as
saying by The Ring.
The reason why the fight won’t probably push
through anymore is the Hatton camp want a 50-50 split of the
bout’s revenues, while the camp of Pacquiao initially wanted 60-40
in the Filipino’s favor. Pacquiao later adjusted to 52-48.
Arum was favoring the 50-50 split, which
Pacquiao’s Filipino handlers have strongly opposed.
In the boxing website eastsideboxing.com, it was
announced that Hatton would schedule a fight in the UK in June.
Pacquiao’s options are to fight former
pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr., or welterweight champs
Andre Berto or Antonio Margarito. Mayweather is the only man to
defeat Hatton.
-- THE MANILA TIMES
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