Hatton vs De La Hoya … Perhaps?

Yesterday, Ricky Hatton’s lawyer, Gareth Williams, announced that the up-coming bout between Ricky Hatton and Filipino southpaw, Manny Pacquiao, is off! Seemingly, Pacquiao, was demanding a 60 – 40 split of the fight purse in his favour. Hatton’s camp were adamant that the split should be 50 – 50, giving Pacquiao, the current WBC Lightweight Champion, a very nice earner worth around £8 million. But Pacquiao spurned the offer by insisting as WBC champ he takes the higher cut. A stalemate was met and depite Hatton’s camp offering a 52 – 48 split in Pacquiao’s favour, yesterday the talks collapsed and the fight is now off.

Now Hatton’s people are scouring around trying to fight an opponent for the fighter. Early talk has been about a match-up between Hatton and Oscar de la Hoya or a rematch with the currently retired Floyd Mayweather Jr, who outclassed and outboxed Hatton in their previous bout. Another possibility is the winner of the Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz bout.

Considering that Manny Pacquiao has defeated Oscar de la Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz in his quest to become WBC champ, no-matter who Hatton fights it’s a second tier card. Until both camps can settle on an amicable split of the prize money – then the Hatton – Pacquiao fight will remain the card that the majority of boxing betting fans will be waiting earnestly to see.