The possibility of a compromise loomed as third parties attempted to work out an agreement between Solar Sports and ABS-CBN over Filipino boxing hero and national treasure Manny Pacquiao’s decision to return to the giant broadcast network beginning with the telecast of his showdown with Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton in Las Vegas on May 3.

Solar Sports president Wilson Tseng and chief operating officer Peter Chanliong took a flight to Los Angeles Friday to hold discussions with Pacquiao which vice president for marketing Jude Turcuarto claimed “was at the request of Manny.”

At a luncheon news conference, Turcuarto said, “we have no intention really of going way against what Manny wants. We wanted to follow what the contract stated and wanted to adhere to the rights that Solar has. The feeling is let’s talk. There is no malice, no nothing.”

One of the panel of four lawyers at the news conference, Stephen David, said “a lot of our friends volunteered to broker a negotiation with Manny Pacquiao and this talk between Wilson Tseng and Pacquiao came about because of these people who are trying to broker a peaceful resolution of this controversy.”

Pacquiao himself in an interview with Dyan Castillejo of ABS-CBN said “there is a solution to every problem. I am standing by my decision and I hope the public understands” even as he asked for their support in his upcoming showdown with Hatton.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports on Thursday he was confident that the issue will be resolved but that if Solar, which claims it has a valid and binding contract and has not defaulted on its financial obligations to Pacquiao, file a suit in the US he was “not going to give anybody [Solar Sports or ABS-CBN] the signal” and subject himself to liabilities.

But lawyer Enrique de la Cruz said “we have no plans right now to file a case in the US” which may in fact provide an opening for ABS-CBN—at the insistence of Pacquiao—to telecast the Hatton fight since Arum said that as far as he is concerned “unless there is litigation I’ll give the signal to whomever he [Pacquiao] requires me to.”

De la Cruz maintained that the Pacquiao announcement and his attempt to rescind his license agreement with Solar Entertainment was “based on a mis-appreciation of facts. He may have been misled into believing that Solar had committed a breach of his contract.”

The lawyer claimed that Solar had “complied with all its obligations under the agreement and there was absolutely no valid grounds to rescind the agreement.” Ronnie Nathanielsz