THE showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton will be billed The Battle of East and West.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum revealed the title of the fight after a two-hour conference call on marketing.

Arum, in a conversation with www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, said the name is a takeoff on Rudyard Kipling?s poem titled ?The Ballad of East and West.?

?When two strong men stand face to face, tho? they come from the ends of the Earth,? Arum recited what he called ?that beautiful couplet.?

He said they would put the phrase on all the posters and other promotional materials for the massive showdown.

Arum was also pleased at the unsolicited buildup given the fight by Eddie Hearn, a top executive of Matchroom Sport, which is owned by his father Barry Hearn, who the promoter described as ?a very good friend.?

Hearn, who is visiting the country to compete in a poker tournament, formally announced the staging of the PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool from Sept. 1 to 6 in Manila with 31 countries participating. Ronnie Nathanielsz