By Ronnie Nathanielsz

AFTER a week of quibbling over a revenue split involving the planned May 2 mega-buck fight between the world?s no. 1 pound-for-pound fighter Manny Pacquiao and International Boxing Organization light welterweight champion Ricky Hatton of Britain, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is positive that a deal will be done.

Speaking to www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports from Las Vegas, Arum said he got word that Pacquiao would fly in Thursday night, watch the Antonio Margarito-Shane Mosley fight on Saturday and leave for London on Monday night to kick off a major promotional tour.

?Everything seems like it?s very positive,? said Arum, who added that Pacquiao was going to meet with his lawyer Franklin ?Jeng? Gacal and other close advisers on the new offer of a 52-48 split in his favor?an improvement on the original 50-50 deal, but not the 60-40 that the Filipino champ wanted.

Arum sweetened the pot by ?raising my guarantee a little bit, so everything is in order. They wanted a higher guarantee which they got.?

But he declined to reveal the amount involved. However, it is expected to possibly be a little higher than the $11-million guarantee for the Oscar de la Hoya fight last Dec. 6 primarily because of the huge pay-per-view income from Britain.

Arum told Standard Today the Pacquiao people have all the contracts. ?We are just waiting for him to sign the contracts and forward a copy to my office.?

Arum emphasized that it would have been easier to get the deal done if the Pacquiao people ?sit and talk like business people instead of playing games. We could have saved a lot of time and it could have been done easier. But whatever, it looks like its going to be done and that?s the main thing. Pacquiao loves to negotiate through the media. He gets a kick out of it.?

Pacquiao and Gacal reportedly boarded a private plane of assistant national security adviser and former Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis ?Chavit? Singson late Tuesday morning for General Santos City, where, according to Gacal, they would study the latest offer.