By Mark Vester
According to Ricky Hatton's legal counsel, Gareth Williams, they have a binding verbal contract to fight Manny Pacquiao on May 2 with an agreed upon 50-50 split. Two days ago, Pacquiao's lawyer, Franklin Gacal, told reporters that Manny will not accept an equal split of the money. He said Pacquiao is looking for a 60-40 split. Hatton refuses to fight Pacquiao for anything less than a 50-50 split.
Gacal has threatened to find a new opponent for the May date if Hatton does not budge. Williams is now threatening to explore Hatton's legal options if Manny backs away from the fight because of the split.
“We had all this before Christmas when they were talking about different figures and we agreed a 50-50 split with them. So having agreed that with them, we’re not going to change our mind. No-one has relayed that to me [on a new split]. The only way that was relayed to me was when his lawyer went and stuck it on the internet. My own view is that if you want to alter a deal, you speak to the parties involved. You don’t do it on the internet," Williams told BBC Sport.
“It’s up to him how he conducts his business but the simple fact is we’ve got a verbal agreement of 50-50 and that’s as far as it goes. As far as I’m concerned I’ve got a firm contract that the fight is taking place. Ricky brings as much to the table as Manny. Either it is 50-50 or we'll consider other options. If that's Manny's position, there is no fight.
"Our own view is that a fight will take place on a 50-50 basis as per the agreement. But if we are formally told it won't take place on that basis we'll consider our legal options because as far as we're concerned we've got a binding contract. We got a verbal deal at 50-50 - everything's moved on that basis. We were told Bob Arum had the full rights to negotiate on behalf of Pacquiao."
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