What looked like a done deal faltered in the end as superstars Oscar De la Hoya and Manny Pacquiao failed to cross the t's and dot the i's for a proposed December 6 mega showdown in Las Vegas.

In the final stretch of the negotiations, failure to agree on the revenue split did the fight in although initial talks proved successful between their representatives.

De la Hoya, looking to get a marquee name for his farewell fight, refused to budge on his 70-30 proposal to Pacquiao, while the Filipino ring icon, hoping to make history against De la hoya, remained steadfast in his 60-40 proposal.

Earlier, De la Hoya fulfilled his end of the bargain by agreeing to fight in the 147-lb limit although the last time he fought under that weight was in 2001. De la Hoya also agreed to use 8-oz gloves, which Pacquiao's team has heavily lobbied for.

The De la Hoya-Pacquiao fight was predicted to rake in more than $100 million in revenue, which would have meant the Filipino icon getting four or five times his last biggest purse which was $5 Million.

SPLIT DID IT

“Initially, De La Hoya proposed a 70-30 split of the revenue up to an undisclosed number of pay-per-view buys. After the fight reached that number, De La Hoya wanted an 80-20 split on the remainder of the buys. Eventually, he scrapped the 80-20 part of the deal and agreed to 70-30 for all buys,” reported Dan Rafael yesterday over ESPN.com.

“On the three sticking points, Oscar gave in on 2½ of them you could say,” Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com.

Schaefer mentioned lawyer Franklin “Jeng” Gacal's name in regards to the failed talks.

“Pacquiao has an adviser and lawyer, [Franklin "Jeng" Gacal] who basically is caught up in percentages. But if you go buy a car or a house or food do you pay in percentages or in money? The answer is you pay in currency not in percentages. I hope this has properly been explained to Manny,” said Schaefer.

Arum told ESPN that his backup plan includes Pacquiao defending his title against Mexican Humberto Soto, a top junior lightweight who would move up to face the Filipino star. However, ESPN pointed out that Arum does not have a site or venue in which to stage the fight in the jam-packed fall.
As for De la Hoya, Rafael reported that the golden boy is now training his sights at a possible clash with junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora.

However, that fight is contingent on Mora, who carved a name for himself by winning the first season of “The Contender” reality series, defeating former world champ Vernon Forrest on Sept. 13 in a rematch of Mora's upset victory in June -- when he became the first graduate of the series to go on to win a major world title.