Manny Pacquiao badly needs Ricky Hatton. But not vice-versa.
This was the sentiment of Gareth Williams, the British fighter?s legal counsel, in an interview with BBC Sports.
“I can?t see where Pacquiao?s coming from because without Ricky Hatton, what?s he?s going to do?” said Williams, obviously piqued that the pound-for-pound king from the Philippines is playing hard-to-get.
“He?s (Pacquiao) not going to be involved in a fight that will generate the same income as fighting Ricky Hatton.”
Despite the threat of a pullout from the proposed May 2 showdown at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Pacquiao remains undaunted, boasting that he will look for somebody else in the event Hatton and his promotional outfit, Golden Boy, do not agree to his demand that he gets a 60-40 edge ? and not 50-50 ? from the total pot
Williams said Pacquiao?s desire to lure Floyd Mayweather Jr. out of retirement won?t be as huge as a Pacquiao-Hatton duel.
“A fight with Mayweather won?t generate the same money because Hatton brings all his fans and UK TV money. There?s only so much you get out of a fight in America in terms of gate, and you?re not going to get any more out of a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight than for a Pacquiao-Hatton fight.”
Williams also took a dig into Pacquiao?s ability to draw his supporters whenever he fights.
“And when Hatton fought Mayweather, the crowd was predominately Hatton fans, and when Pacquiao fought Oscar de la Hoya, the crowd were mainly De la Hoya fans. Manny is massive in the Philippines, but thousands of Filipinos aren?t going to travel to Las Vegas or pay ?15 a head to watch it on pay-per-view.”
Williams added that “the ball is in their court” and that their insistence that there ought to be equal sharing is “reasonable.”
Team Hatton claims that a fight in the British Isles, where 80,000 are expected to be in attendance, will be pursued if efforts to save the match fail.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao?s lawyer said yesterday that Team Pacquiao is just waiting for new developments from the States regarding the 60-40 financial split.
“The movement will not come from us. We?ve said our piece and it?s up to them if they would like to go on with this fight,” said Franklin Gacal.
