Pacman Looking for Hitman Showdown

Ricky Hatton's dream of finishing his career in front of 100,000 fans early next year at Wembley Stadium against the exciting Filipino Manny Pacquiao is shared by the most important man in the equation: Pacquiao.

Reports from America yesterday claimed the four-title Pacman, who has inherited The Ring's accolade of best pound-for-pound fighter from Hatton's conqueror, the retired Floyd Mayweather Jnr, is at odds with Bob Arum about his next opponent. The promoter has put forward his own fighter, Humberto Soto (47-7-2), at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas on 15 November.

Pacquiao and everyone connected with the promotion were disappointed that his last fight, against the tough but ordinary David Diaz, attracted only 200,000 pay-per-view customers. As he is already planning his exit from boxing, to run for political office in the Philippines in 2010, he does not want to waste his time on second-rate fights.

'What Manny wants,' a Pacquiao insider told the website Boxingconfidential.com, 'Manny gets. And what he wants is to fight the megafight with popular Ricky Hatton. Arum has explained to him that it can't happen now because Hatton is fighting Paulie Malignaggi in November. Arum said a step-aside fee cannot be negotiated but Paulie promoter Lou DiBella said he has an open mind and open ears.'