By Ronnie Nathanielsz

FILIPINO boxing hero Manny Pacquiao decided to move from Solar Sports and returned to giant broadcast network ABS-CBN.

He announced yesterday that fight fans will see his ?Battle of East and West? against Ricky Hatton at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 2 on Channel 2.

In a statement on TV Patrol from Los Angeles, Pacquiao thanked the media and said his fight against Hatton will be with his new television partner ABS-CBN, begging for understanding that it was his decision.

Standard Today learned that Pacquiao signed a three-fight contract with the broadcast network a few days ago, starting with the Hatton fight. He decided to inform his countrymen of his decision on the ABS-CBN evening newscast?TV Patrol.

For some time now, Pacquiao expressed his desire to move to ABS-CBN, which bankrolled his fight against Oscar Larios at the Araneta Coliseum, for a number of reasons, including the quality coverage consistently provided by the Lopez-owned network.

Even when Solar Sports telecast the Pacquiao fights over GMA-7, ABS-CBN still provided extensive coverage of the buildup to the fights, his training and all pre- and post-fight activities, which helped further enhance the image of Pacquiao and promoted his fights.

During the recent promotional tour in Manchester City and London, ABS-CBN had a crew covering every activity of Pacquiao and even had coverage of Hatton, which included exclusive interviews with the International Boxing Organization light welterweight champion.

Pacquiao?s lawyer Franklin ?Jeng? Gacal, who arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday after Pacquiao made his statement, told Standard Today, he didn?t see the statement and was not completely aware of what Pacquiao?s decision was.

But he still indicated, ?he [Pacquiao] is moving to ABS-CBN.?

Indications were that Solar Sports had delayed payment of what was due Pacquiao for the television rights for his fight against Oscar de la Hoya last Dec. 6 and only remitted the balance due to his US bank account on Tuesday.

In his announcement, Pacquiao thanked his former media partner, but said that after some serious thinking, he approached ABS-CBN to renew their previous partnership.

Pacquiao stressed that this was ?my decision? and called on his fans to watch his fight against Hatton on ABS-CBN.

?We are very happy with the decision of Manny Pacquiao to be his partner in future fights, including the Pacquiao-Hatton fight on May 2. As his former media partner, we shall support Manny?s campaign to bring honor to the Philippines and his kababayans here and around the world. To Manny, we say ?Welcome home Kapamilya?,? said Bong Osorio, head of ABS-CBN Corporate Communications.