Ricky Hatton VS Manny Pacquiao
A deal is close to completion that will see Ricky Hatton fight the Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on 2 May. Talks were continuing today aimed at securing a site to stage the contest with the MGM Grand and Planet Hollywood casinos both prepared to pay multimillion-dollar fees to the promoters.
Pacquiao has become one of the sport's hottest properties with his brilliant win over Oscar De La Hoya, while Hatton remains hugely popular, not least with casinos who can be guaranteed to have their business boosted by the thousands of fans who will travel in support of the hero. The winner of such a high-profile contest would be likely to entice the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr, –conqueror of Hatton in 2007, out of retirement for another lucrative superfight.
Even allowing for the economic downturn, which has had major repercussions for the Las Vegas gaming industry, it is estimated that Pacquiao-Hatton could generate around $20m (£13.4m) for each fighter. Not only would there be a guaranteed sell-out crowd at either the MGM Grand Garden or the Thomas and Mack Center, which will be the venue if Planet Hollywood wins the right to host the fight, but there would also be huge revenue to be made from television sales. Watch the fight live.
Although all Hatton's major fights have been televised in Britain by Sky, with his most recent contests shown as pay-per-view attractions with Sky Box Office, they will face serious competition for British rights from Setanta Sports, who recently signed a deal with Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, to show all his Top Rank promotions.
Similarly in the United States Arum is testing the market to see if the cable network Showtime might be prepared to outbid boxing's major player HBO, with the support of its free-to-air parent company CBS.
Hatton's promoters Golden Boy have already verbally acquiesced in the face of Arum's insistence that the fight should be in the US rather than an open-air venue in the UK, such as Wembley Stadium, which would have been Hatton's preference. Arum, 77, has been the dominant force in forging the deals surrounding the fight.
Hatton, 30, is currently fulfilling a series of speaking engagements and is planning a cruise with friends and family before going into a likely 12-week training camp for the contest, which is to be made at Hatton's normal 10-stone fighting weight, the light-welterweight division limit, even though Pacquiao beat De La Hoya at welterweight.
match live stream.
Floyd Mayweather Sr, Hatton's trainer, has said he believes Hatton's strength will help him to a stoppage victory. But the bookies disagree, having installed Pacquiao as the 2-1-on favourite, with Hatton quoted at 6-4 against.
Hailing from the streets of Manchester, England, Ricky Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) has a tenacious fighting style and a devout following. The 30-year-old suffered his only professional loss in December 2007 when he battled future Hall of Famer Floyd Mayweather Jr. as a welterweight. Now back in the junior welterweight ranks, he wants to prove himself the most formidable fighter in the division. K.O Knock Out.
