Give us more or the fight is off.
Manny Pacquiao’s legal counsel sent this message across yesterday amid reports that Pacquiao is being offered only 30 percent of everything for him to fight Oscar dela Hoya.
“If it’s 30 percent, then it’s off,” said lawyer Franklin Gacal yesterday.
He said 30 percent was the initial offer made by Dela Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions to Pacquiao who is being represented in the negotiations by his own promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank.
“That’s the offer. But we’re not taking it,” said Gacal.
Pacquiao, the best pound-for-pound fighter today, definitely wants more, and a 60-40 share, according to his adviser, Wakee Salud, should be the better deal.
A good deal should give Pacquiao close to $20 million.
“We can’t settle for 30 percent. Otherwise, we go to Humberto Soto,” said Gacal on behalf of Pacquiao who just arrived yesterday morning from the Beijing Olympics.
Soto, the Mexican fighter who knocked out the younger Pacquiao, Bobby, last year at the Madison Square Garden, is on standby, just in case the Pacquiao-Dela Hoya talks fall off.
If it’s against Soto, then Pacquiao will return to the ring in November at the Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. A fight with Dela Hoya, if it happens, will take place on Dec. 6 at the MGM Grand.
Negotiations between Arum and Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaeffer got off last week, and are scheduled to resume today at the GBB offices in Los Angeles.
“They are still working on the money; Oscar wants to keep all of it, it seems. I heard he wants a 70-30 split,” Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, told Boxing Herald.
Aside from the revenue split, concerns have also been raised on the weight limit, the size of gloves or even the local TV network that would bring the fight to the Philippines.
Pacquiao wants the weight limit set at 147, but Dela Hoya reportedly wants 151 lbs; and that Pacquiao would use 8 oz gloves, and Dela Hoya 10 oz gloves, but the latter now wants 10 oz for both.
Who gets to air the fight for local TV, whether it’s ABS-CBN (which holds the right to air Dela Hoya fights in the Philippines) or GMA-7 (where Pacquiao belongs) is another weighty issue.
“We expected all these issues. The gloves alone will be an issue, the weight, and then the revenue split,” said Gacal.