By Mark Vester
Ricky Hatton's attorney, Gareth Williams, says their deal to fight Manny Pacquiao on May 2 is still a 50-50 deal. According to Williams, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer has assured him the deal will still have the original terms in place. Pacquiao has officially signed the contract for the fight, but his team says the deal is a 52-48 split with $12 million dollar guarantee. The fight takes place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The fight nearly fell apart after Pacquiao demanded a 60-40 split, but later came down with his demand to 55-45. The Filipino champion later gave in and took a modified 52-48 offer. It's been reported that Arum had to kick in an additional $1 million-plus for Pacquiao to sign.
Williams has said in more than one interview that if Pacquiao has a deal that presents him more than a 50-50 split, the agreement is between Pacquiao and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum - not Team Hatton. Schaefer has a copy of Pacquiao's signed contract and has sent it to Williams for review.
"Richard Schaefer has definitely got the contract. I'm 99% certain the fight will happen. It is on its way to me and I'm pretty confident it will be all right and everything will be fine. We never wavered from a 50-50 split. All this talk about us making different offers is just nonsense. We reached one agreement and we didn't offer anything else," Williams told Setanta Sports.
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