Go figure. As we were all aware, no matter how "off the table" it was, that meant nothing until one of them signed to fight someone else. It looks like the fight is on, and that's good news. From Sky:
Pacman's promoter Bob Arum confirmed on Thursday night that terms for the fight had now been agreed."Manny has assured me he's signed the contract, that he's announcing to the Philippines press that he's signed it, and that everything's done," Arum told the LA Times.
Arum and an attorney from his Top Rank promotional team will review the contract on Friday before forwarding it on to Golden Boy Promotions, who are representing Hatton.
But Hatton's lawyer Gareth Williams remains sceptical, saying that he will believe the contract has been signed when he has it in his hands.
"Bob Arum has been telling me for three weeks there isn't a problem," he said. "The story I'm getting is he's spoken to Manny and there isn't a problem and he's going to get the contract signed.
Just get it done, that's all I care about.
UPDATE: ESPN confirms, and Dan Rafael is generally the most reliable source for things like this. He doesn't run with fight announcements until he's very certain.