Manny Pacquiao vs Ricky Hatton

Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao apparently had a change of heart. So, we will have the much anticipated Manny Pacquiao vs Ricky Hatton bout on May 2, 2009 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada as reported in ESPN.

Right after Pacquiao's win over De La Hoya, Hatton's name was immediately mentioned as Manny's next possible opponent. After almost not happening, the fight will push through (May 3 in Manila).

The bout will challenge Pacquiao's hold of the pound-for-pound title and give another chance to Hatton who lost to former pound-for-pound king and now retired, Floyd Mayweather jr.

Reports also say that Pacquiao stands to get the biggest purse of his career. Accordingly, he is guaranteed to receive $12 Million and a 52-48 split of the fight's revenue.

Days ago, reports said that the fight will not push through as Team Pacquiao would not budge in its earlier demand of a higher share for Pacquiao and failed to beat the deadline set by Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaeffer.

Initially, I was in favor of Pacquiao demanding a bigger share because in my opinion, Pacquiao is more popular than Hatton and therefore will bring more to the fight in terms of revenue. But when it comes to pay-per-view, Hatton can pull more revenues because he is so popular in Brittain.

Hatton can use this share of revenues as an added motivation in his training and show fans he deserved more.

This maybe some marketing strategy to generate more buzz for the match. But remember that this also happened in the Pacquiao-De La Hoya bout. Negotiations took longer because of disagreement in money. I hope that Money err.. Manny Pacquiao and his Team will not get use to this tactic. Otherwise, the fans may miss some intriguing fights because of money matters.

Nevertheless, I wish come May 2, the ending will be the same last December - Pacquiao prevailing vs Hatton.