By Mark Vester

Ricky Hatton is ready to move to another opponent after failed negotiations to make a May clash with Manny Pacquiao. The two sides could not agree on the purse split. Hatton stood his ground on a 50-50 split and later budged down to 52-48 in favor of Manny, but the Filipino fighter wanted at least a 55-45 split.

Hatton has made his attorney, Gareth Williams, contact Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, asking him to begin negotiations with Floyd Mayweather Jr. If they can't get a fight with Mayweather, the next option is to target the winner of Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz, which takes place on February 28.

"I have asked Richard Schaefer, who acts for the American promoter Golden Boy, to make contact with Mayweather again to see if he is interested. If not, we will be looking at the winner of Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz for some time in June. It would also be easy to make as both are with Golden Boy Promotions," Williams told The Sun.

"If it comes off, we could also look at that bout being in England too, as we initially wanted with Pacquiao. With the state of the pound against the dollar and the credit crunch it would be difficult for a lot of people to buy tickets in the States, but a fee from US television could go a long way over here."

Williams said that everyone on Team Hatton has had enough of Manny Pacquiao, they refuse to negotiate the terms any further.

"We've been having the same conversation for two weeks. Every morning I have been told the contract will be here in the morning but it never has been. We stopped talking to other parties back in December because everything was verbally agreed and we believed the deal was firm.

"But now we've had enough of it. We are not going to chase them. We hear all these stories coming out of the Philippines, but it just seems he does not want the fight."

Ricky's father and manager, Ray Hatton, has also had enough of Pacquiao.

"Pacquiao seems to forget he got the De La Hoya fight because Richard turned it down. "We have tried out best to meet Pacquiao's demands but surely you can't get fairer than a 50-50 split? Maybe Pacquiao doesn't want to fight Richard," Ray said.

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingvester@gmail.com