Manny Pacquiao responded early today to the collapse of negotiations for his scheduled junior-welterweight fight against England’s Ricky Hatton on May 2 in Las Vegas, casting blame on Hatton’s promoter, Richard Schaefer, and urging the British boxer to fight him “without the middlemen.”
“Let’s get it on,” Pacquiao said in a 16-paragraph statement written by his friend, Winchell Campos, and headlined, “Golden Bluff in a New Age of Boxing.” “You called me out, now I say we fight.”
Pacquiao (48-3-2) responded a day after Hatton’s camp grew tired of weeks of waiting for the Filipino star to sign a contract that would award him a slightly higher split than 50% of the total purse. Hatton instructed Schaefer to scrap plans for Pacquiao and move on to other possible opponents, including Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr. or the winner of next month’s lightweight battle between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz.
Schaefer said he was “disgusted” by Pacquiao’s refusal to sign and called him “a spoiled young kid who doesn’t know how to behave.”
Those comments raised Pacquiao’s ire.
On the heels of a dominating victory over Schaefer’s Golden Boy Promotions business partner De La Hoya that affirmed Pacquiao’s standing as the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and two years removed from a bitter parting after an apparent promotional contract agreement, Pacquiao was “disgusted” by Schaefer’s words, according to the statement, referring to the comments as “unsavory.”
“I find Schaefer’s actions and words too aristocratic,” Pacquiao said in the statement. “He’s the one who is acting childish. He is not professional and civil enough to give merits to the negotiating table.”
He called Schaefer’s patience “unusually thin,” with the statement saying, “Pacquiao also noted the lies and undue pressure that they have been peddling just to force him to sign the contract which was a little short of expectations.
“They were quoted as saying that if I do not sign their contract, they already have offers for them to fight in the British Isles with 80,000 people watching. Now, it is obvious that they were just bluffing. Now, they are saying, they will fight De La Hoya. Then, they are also calling out Floyd Mayweather. I say, Schaefer is a bad businessman,” Pacquiao said.
“I want to fight Ricky Hatton if the terms are right and fair. Modesty aside, I did not become the best pound-for-pound fighter by fighting patsies on my way to the top.”
Schaefer said he read Pacquiao’s statement and said, “It put a big smile on my face. If he’s happy with his decision to turn down his biggest career payday, then I’m happy for him.”
Schaefer scoffed at the suggestion by Pacquiao that the purse split wasn’t fair.
“Right and fair would be 60-40 in Hatton’s favor,” Schaefer said. “Manny Pacquiao does not bring the same amount of money from the Philippines that Ricky Hatton will bring to this fight from England. It’s more than fair to have it 50-50, and Pacquiao’s own promoter, Bob Arum, and trainer, Freddie Roach — people who’ve been around the fight game for a long time — believe it’s fair.”
Campos, Pacquiao’s friend, said the boxer would board a flight from the Philippines “in the next few days” to visit Arum and discuss the future of his career.
Asked if the Hatton fight is officially dead, Campos said, “It all depends on the other side. If they continue to close the door, we don’t have any other options.”
