By Nate Anderson: Things are going so well in the negotiations between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton. With Pacquiao still sticking to his desire to get the larger cut of the pie, a 60-40 deal, Hatton and his father, Ray, are getting prepared to walk away from this fight unless there can be a break through by next week. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum had previously had a deal ironed where with Hatton’s promoter for a 50-50 split but Pacquiao then asked for a bigger cut, creating a stand-off.
Hatton’s father recently said, “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.”
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is trying to convince him to accept the 50-50 deal, but so far it hasn’t worked.
At the end of the day, Hatton may be better off moving on and choosing another opponent if Pacquiao doesn’t change his mind soon. I think a lot of people are overestimating the overall fan interest in this fight. While I can see how the UK and Filipino crowd might want to see this fight, but I think it’s less important to other people around the world.
Many fans would probably much prefer to see him fight someone like Mayweather and De La Hoya rather than Pacquiao. That’s not to say that Manny isn’t popular but he appears to be less so than Floyd and Oscar. At the end of the day, Hatton might be better off taking those fights rather than this fight, especially now that it’s turning out to be one big headache for Hatton and his team.
He’s bigger fish to fry than to waste his time on trying to convince someone to meet him halfway. This fight is also a dangerous bout for Hatton and it might not be worth the risk involved. The smart thing would be to take on De La Hoya or Mayweather if they’re there and willing to fight.
Hatton can always fight Pacquiao at a later date after dealing with the bigger money fights. De La Hoya and Mayweather are more popular in the U.S than Pacquiao, and that’s who Hatton needs to be going after, not Pacquiao. Of course, if Pacquiao is willing to be reasonable and accept the 50-50 offer, then than can change but I doubt he will. Hatton should stop wasting his time with this because it looks like it’s not happening.
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