It has been a bruising 36 hours behind the scenes as Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao’s legal teams ironed out what could be the most talked-about, highest-earning superfight of 2009. If it happens.
In spite of the growing optimism yesterday that the superfight between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao is back on, Hatton’s team insisted they “will wait for the physical evidence of a signed contract”, which is not expected before next Tuesday. Behind the scenes, Telegraph Sport understands that a series of moves have gone in the battle over financial control. After Hatton’s team pulled the plug yesyerday, Pacquiao’s handlers were frantically attempting to draw Floyd Mayweather Jr out of retirement, a move which proved unsuccessful. Then, in the early hours of yesterday morning, a veiled announcement from The Philippines from Manny Pacquiao that he wanted to sign to fight Hatton. Hatton’s legal counsel, Gareth Williams, and Pacquiao’s adviser in The Philipinnes, Franklin Gacal, were in contact by phone conference in the early hours of Friday morning. The two deal breakers laid out their positions. “I told Gacal that we already had an agreement for 50-50 and we are not going to budge from that,” Williams told The Daily Telegraph. “Ricky has a castiron right to that share, because he has a great draw through pay-per-view in the UK, and a huge fan base. My insistence to Pacquiao’s handlers was that we have already drawn a line in the sand.” Pacquiao’s American promoter Bob Arum will fly to south-east Asia on Sunday, with a completed contract expected by the middle of next week. Williams said: “Manny Pacquiao is a phenomenal fighter and what he has achieved is fantastic. It is the one fight Ricky really wants, but we are not being held to ransom, because there are great opponents queuing up to fight him.” “When we decided to pull out of the fight, we [the Hattons and Williams] sat down [on Thursday evening] and talked about who we would like to fight in the UK. We know we would get a huge audience, and we know Oscar De La Hoya wants to fight here, and we have a great relationship with his promotional company.” “At the beginning of our negotiations we wanted Manny to fight here, but we had been told by HBO he was not a big enough pay per view draw outside the US to hold it here.” “All through the negotiations we have gone along with demands from other people. We refuse to have a gun held to our head.” “I’m not going to get myself excited until a contract from Pacquiao is on our desk in the UK. I know that Richard Schafer has been speaking with Oscar De La Hoya, and if this fight with Manny does not materialise, Ricky is serious about fighting Oscar in the UK, in May.” Elsewhere, Joe Calzaghe gave his strongest hint yet that he is considering one more fight, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. It is understood that Americans Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson, and Ronald ‘Winky’ Wright are all in the frame.
