It was believed that the proposed bout between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton was all but a done deal to take place on May 2nd in Las Vegas. Well, think again, as they seem to be channeling the spirit of Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins in arguing between a 60-40 and 50-50 split of revenues.
An official announcement was thought to be on its way soon, but instead, the last few days have seen numerous reports of Pacquiao’s side demanding a bigger slice of the pie than Hatton.
“My impression was that the Pacquiao people had signed off on the deal,” said his promoter, Bob Arum, on Tuesday afternoon. “Apparently, they got back to the Philippines and they haven’t. So it looks like the fight?s in jeopardy.”
Arum was in New York, where he was to meet with both Showtime and HBO about distributing this blockbuster promotion.
“We had a meeting based on the fact that the fight would happen. But I have no idea if the fight will happen. None at all. I mean, I never saw such bizarre behavior.”
So what’s Plan B?
“There is no Plan B,” was Arum’s answer.
Is Floyd Mayweather a possibility?
“No.”
What about Antonio Margarito? “I don’t know.” (Now, the way Arum said ?I don’t know’ had me believing he had something up his sleeve. But perhaps I’m just reading too much into it.)
“Yeah,” he confirmed, “I just don’t know.”
So who’s to blame for all this? Is it Manny himself, or his cadre of advisors and hanger-ons that always seem to have the ear of the ?Pac Man’?
“They’re all blaming it on Manny,” stated Arum. “But from my standpoint, Hatton is contributing this enormous pay-per-view revenue, which without him wouldn’t be contributed. So that’s why he entitled to 50-50, plus the gate. I don’t know who is now advising Pacquiao and why Pacquiao is doing what he’s doing. I think it’ll all get sorted out, but right now if he persists in that – there’s no fight.”
Asked if there was a deadline in place to consummate the deal, Arum would admit, “I have no idea; to me this has been a big curveball.”
Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach was scheduled to talk to his fighter on Tuesday night, in hopes of swaying him back to the originally agreed upon deal.
SUPER (MIDDLE) ROUND ROBIN?
The scuttlebutt is that long-time HBO staple Jermain Taylor could be going to the other side of the street and making his debut on Showtime on March 28th. The plan was for Taylor to return against Jean Pascal and then face WBC super middleweight titlist Carl Froch in the summer. What’s complicated this process is that Froch, who was once thought to be injured, is making it very clear that he’s ready, willing and able to face Taylor next.
A purse bid for Froch-Taylor is set for Friday.
But beyond that, the bigger picture seems to be that Showtime wants to do a series of fights in a very loaded 168-pound division, that includes the likes of Mikkel Kessler, Lucien Bute, Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell, Allan Green, Librado Andrade, and could soon have the likes of Arthur Abraham and Kelly Pavlik.
RUMBLE TIME
Like many of you, I can’t wait for the AFC Championship Game, which figures to be an all-out slugfest between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. This is how Ravens standout ‘backer Bart Scott sees this game:
“It’s two teams that try to impose their will on each other,” he would tell the Baltimore Sun. “Whenever you have two teams that are evenly matched, both sides are going to pay the price on the body. I look at like (Miguel) Cotto and (Antonio) Margarito. Nobody is running or ducking or hiding from each other. We’re going to stand in the middle of the ring, and we’ll see who comes out on top.”
This game should be played in a steel cage.
COOPERSTOWN BOUND.
Congrats to Rickey Henderson (the greatest table setter ever in baseball history) and Jim Rice on their calls to Cooperstown. But my question is this, if Rice makes it, why not Joe Carter? His power numbers are similar (although his batting average is way down), he could steal a base or two, and who can forget the ending of the 93 World Series, where he had his Bill Mazeroski moment.
I admit, I’m a Carter fan. Still can’t believe the Padres traded him, along with future Hall-of-Famer Roberto Alomar, after just one season.
MIDWEEK FLURRIES
Good to see that his loss to Bernard Hopkins back in October hasn’t hurt Kelly Pavlik’s popularity in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio….Anyone else really dig Deion Sanders on the NFL Network? He’s really come into his own as a studio analyst….I hear that Leonilo Miranda, who sports a big record (30-0) and headlines the 2009 debut of ShoBox, can fight a bit…..Hey, anyone heard from Oscar De La Hoya since December 6th? The guy has gone all Greta Garbo on us….Folks, I fulfilled my New Year?s resolution. I went to the dentist. And for all the years of neglect, I actually came out of it remarkably well. But I promise you this, I will never go eight years (yeah, yeah, I know) between dental visits ever again. Maybe every four (after all, that’s every Olympics, not two) but never eight. Dr. Carnow and his assistant Erika did a helluva job, a helluva job, as Hank Stram would say…..
