Oscar de la Hoya, being a man of business and a man of reason , has just made the offer that Manny Pacquiao cannot refuse.
In budging ever so slightly from his supposedly written in stone 70-30 offer to Pacman for a Dec. 6 fight in Las Vegas, Oscar has delivered a deal that needs only a ?yes? from Megammany. Then Bob Arum and Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy can hand the deal off to the lawyers, get the contracts done and signed and then announced the Biggest Boxing Circus of this century.
De la Hoya has thrown Pacman more than crumbs in moving to a 67-33 split of all the money which will be generated in a bout that some claim is an absurd mismatch but which many others react to positively. Oscar would never go 60-40 and I wrote last week that the sensible thing to do would be for the Pacquiao interests to ask for 65-35.
It appears that that Arum did just that and that Schaefer counted with 67-33. So Manny is not getting exactly what he wants but he is getting the biggest financial windfall of his storied life and is likely to pull in at least $15 million when all is said, done and counted.
But two measly percentage points should not stop this show from getting launched. If Pacquiao turns down this compromise, he will be the one wearing the dunce cap, not de la Hoya.
And it won?t. You will see an official press conference, in Los Angeles I would bet, just after Labor Day.
