Dream showdown will open door to rematch - Arum

Ricky Hatton facing the winner between Manny Pacquiao and Oscar dela Hoya is not a sure thing.

While there’s nothing in the Pacquiao-Dela Hoya contract that calls for an immediate rematch between the two, Top Rank big boss Bob Arum said you just couldn’t discount that possibility.

“There is none,” Arum told The STAR recently when the ageless promoter was asked if there’s any clause calling for a rematch between Pacquiao and Dela Hoya.

However, Arum said it doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be one.

“If both fighters want a rematch then nothing can prevent them from staging a rematch,” said Arum heading into the most anticipated fight of the year in Dec. 6.

The “Dream Match” sold $17 million worth of tickets in just two to three hours, and is tipped to break the 2.4 million pay-per-view buys of last year’s Dela Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight.

The coming fight is also expected to generate $100 million in total revenue, and Pacquiao, fighting in his biggest and heaviest fight at 147 pounds, is guaranteed $10 million. Dela Hoya will get much more.

Arum said the possibility of a rematch between the pound-for-pound king and the pay-per-view king would depend on how the fight, set at the 16,000-seat MGM Grand Arena, would end.

“Absolutely it would depend on how the fight ends,” he said.

Pacquiao and Dela Hoya slugging it out, trading blows, and both men standing at the final bell of their 12-round, and a close decision afterwards could raise calls for an immediate rematch.

“If it’s that exciting,” said Arum

“And then if it involves a lot of money. You know money talks,” he said over the phone.

Pacquiao and Dela Hoya may find themselves fighting each another until they retire.

Hatton, the British superstar, takes on Paul Maliganaggi on Nov. 22 at the MGM Grand for the IBO light-welterweight crown.

He said he “absolutely” loves to fight the winner between Pacquiao and Dela Hoya, saying, “I would like to think I’m in line to fight the winner.”

But he better get past Malignaggi first, and then sit back and relax, and hope for the best as he catches the “Dream Match.”