To hear Bob Arum tell it, he carefully detailed the money split for the proposed May 2 Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton fight in excruciating detail.
The location was the posh Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel. Arum also told me that, while the financial terms were being outlined, Pacman felt the call of nature and took a bathroom break.
Now, as the Pacman-Hatton fight may be flushed away, you wonder. Will Megamanny?s trip to the fancy loo in the hotel turn out to be profitable or costly?
In other words, Arum is saying that maybe, just maybe, his fighter did not fully comprehend that the offer on the table was to spit all revenue down the middle, 50-50.
I have to ask why this important business was done in public in the first place. Arum said Pacman, who was on a family holiday at the time, brought a flock of his hangers on with him and they had to set up a separate table for the extra guests.
Surely such a vital discussion belonged in private, in a hotel room or suite or in someone?s office without waiters and busboys bustling about. In seclusion only the key individuals would have been present.
I also wonder why the shrewd Arum did not get Pacman to sign a note saying he agreed to the even split so that the promoter would later to have something to hang his hat on.
Yes, formal contracts would have to be done later but at least the Top Rank honcho would have a memorialization (something in writing) saying that Pacman understood and accepted the even-steven fight deal.
They say familiarity breeds contempt. In this case, I believe it led to some sloppiness.
Did Manny say yea or nay to the 50-50? Or did he say he would think it over?
Was he in the water closet (British expression) when Arum said it was 50-50 or no fight?
Gee whiz, I wonder if we will ever know what really went down. Something tells me that attorney Franklin ?Jeng? Gacal probably made some careful notes at the dinner.
Pacman went to the bathroom and now Pacman-Hatton may go down the toilet.
