Emmanuel Dapigran Pacquiao, (born
December 17, 1978 in Kibawe, Bukidnon, Mindanao,
Philippines) is a Filipino professional boxer and
reigning WBC International Super Featherweight
champion. He is a former world champion at IBF Super
Bantamweight, and WBC Flyweight divisions. Pacquiao
has a record of 44 wins, 3 losses, and 2 draws, with
35 wins coming by way of knockout.[citation needed]
His brother, Bobby Pacquiao is also a Super
Featherweight boxer.
Pacquiao ran for a congressional seat to represent
the 1st district of South Cotabato, but he was
defeated by Darlene Antonino-Custodio. Custodio had
139,061 votes while Pacquiao received 75,908 votes.
In September 2007, he signed up with GMA Network as
an artist.Biography
Early career
Pacquiao started his professional boxing career
in 1995 at 106 pounds at the age of 16. His early
fights usually took place in small venues and were
shown on Vintage Sports' Blow by Blow evening boxing
show (hosted by John Ray Betita). His first
professional fight was a four-round bout against
Edmund Ignacio on January 22, 1995, which Pacquiao
won via decision, thus becoming an instant star of
the program.
His weight increased from 106 to 113 pounds before
losing in his 12th bout against Rustico Torrecampo
via a third round technical knockout (TKO). As
well-known sportscaster Joaquin "Quinito" Henson
observed, Pacquiao clearly had not made weight, so
he was forced to use heavier gloves than Torrecampo,
thereby putting Pacquiao at a disadvantage.
Shortly after the Torrecampo fight, Pacquiao settled
at 112 pounds, winning the WBC Flyweight title over
Chatchai Sasakul in the eighth round only to lose it
in his second defense against Medgoen Singsurat, or
Medgoen 3K Battery, via a third round knockout on a
bout held at Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.
Technically, Pacquiao lost the belt at the scales by
surpassing the required weight of 112 lb (51 kg).
Following his loss to Singsurat, Pacquiao gained
weight anew, this time stopping at the super
bantamweight division of 122 lb (55 kg) where he
picked up the WBC International Super Bantamweight
title, defending it five times before his next world
title fight came.
Pacquiao’s big break came on June 23, 2001, against
IBF Super Bantamweight champion Lehlohonolo Ledwaba.
Pacquiao stepped into the fight as a late
replacement and walked out of the fight as the newly
crowned IBF Super Bantamweight champion on a bout
held at MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Pacquiao's rise
Pacquiao went on to defend his title four times
before the match that many consider to have defined
his career, against the Mexican boxing idol, Marco
Antonio Barrera of Mexico. Pacquiao, moving up in
weight and in his first fight ever in the
featherweight division brought his power with him
and defeated Barrera via a TKO in the 11th round at
the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas.
Only six months removed from his win over Barrera,
Pacquiao went on to challenge another respected
Mexican counter puncher, Juan Manuel Márquez, holder
of the World Boxing Association (WBA) and
International Boxing Federation (IBF) Featherweight
titles. The fight held at the MGM Grand ended in a
controversial draw after he knocked down Márquez
three times on the first round, but lost most of the
latter rounds. One of the judges later admitted to
making an error in the scorecards, as he scored the
first round as a "10-7" in favor of Pacquiao instead
of the standard "10-6" for a three knockdown round.
Had Marquez not had the extra point, Pacquiao would
have won by split decision. It was probably the most
hated decision done by the WBA and IBF for the
Filipino boxer.
In a bout held at Taguig City, Philippines, Pacquiao
fought against Fahsan (2K-Gas Battery) Por
Thawatchai. Pacquiao sent Por Thawchwai to the
canvas three times en route to a knockout in the
fourth round. A left uppercut to the jaw knocked
down the Thai fighter that lifted his feet off the
canvas and ended the fight.
Pacquiao once again moved up another division from
126 to 130 pounds in order to fight another Mexican
fighter, three-time division champion Erik Morales
on March 19, 2005 at the MGM Grand. However this
time around at his first fight in the
superfeatherweight division, Pacquiao lost the 12
round match by a unanimous decision from the judges.
On September 10, 2005, Manny Pacquiao knocked out
Hector Velasquez, capturing the WBC International
Super Featherweight title in the process on a fight
held at Staples Center, Los Angeles, California.
Pacquiao defeated Erik Morales by TKO in a
much-anticipated rematch on January 21, 2006 in Las
Vegas at Thomas and Mack Center.
Newfound fame
After the Morales bout, Pacquiao was in the
limelight again during the first week of February
2006 when a waitress working in a Manila night club
claimed that he was the father of her son, born out
of a whirlwind affair with the boxer. The boxer was
not giving her child financial support, prompting
her to sue Pacquiao and demanding $250,000.00
(P5,159,958) in child support.
On March 21 Pacquiao was sent to the hospital due to
stomach problems, brought about by his bar-hopping,
womanizing, various product endorsements, and
billiards playing (Pacquiao even qualified in the
final stages of Philippine 9-ball Open). Pacquiao's
trainer Freddie Roach had commented earlier about
his concerns of Pacquiao's late night lifestyle and
warned that the boxer is in danger of losing both
his edge and his focus. Roach noted that there are
too many distractions surrounding Pacquiao in the
Philippines, including sponsorship deals, personal
appearances, nocturnal activities as well as his
circle of friends.
On July 2, Pacquiao defeated another Mexican, Oscar
Larios, a two-time super-bantamweight champion.
Despite his camp's big promise of an early knockout,
the fight went the distance with Pacquiao knocking
down the Mexican two times during the 12-round bout
for the WBC International Super Featherweight title
held at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City,
Philippines.[citation needed]
In September 2006, Pacquiao signed a major deal with
Golden Boy Promotions (GBP), headed by Oscar de la
Hoya, which is good for seven fights. This
development was confirmed by coach Freddie Roach.
Under the deal, Pacquiao is guaranteed a prize money
of US$5 million for each fight. With regard to
profits made on each fight, Pacquiao will be
receiving at least 90% while the remaining 10% will
go to Golden Boy Promotions.
Pacquiao and Morales fought for a third time (with
the "series" tied 1-all) on November 18, 2006.
Witnessed by a near-record crowd of 18,276, the
match saw Pacquiao defeating Morales via a
third-round knockout at the Thomas & Mack Center in
Las Vegas.
After the Pacquiao-Morales rematch, Arum announced
that Manny returned his signing bonus check back
with Golden Boy Promotions signalling intentions to
stay with Top Rank. This resulted in GBP's decision
to sue the famed fighter over contractual breaches.
At the end of 2006, he was named by both HBO and
Ring Magazine as the fighter of the year, with HBO
also naming him as the most exciting fighter of the
year.
After a failed promotional negotiation with Marco
Antonio Barrera's camp, Bob Arum chose Jorge Solis
as his next opponent among several fighters that Bob
Arum offered him to fight as a replacement. The bout
was held in San Antonio on April 14, 2007. In the
sixth round of the bout an accidental head butt
occurred giving Pacquiao a cut under his left
eyebrow. The fight ended in the 8th round when
Pacquiao knocked Solis down twice, with Solis
failing to beat the 10 count after the second
knockdown. The victory raised Pacquiao's
win-draw-loss record to 44-3-2 with 35 KOs.
On June 29, 2007 it was announced that Top Rank and
Golden Boy Promotions agreed to settle their
lawsuit, meaning the long-awaited rematch with Marco
Antonio Barrera will occur despite being the number
1 contender for the super-featherweight title of
Juan Manuel Marquez.
Since Bob Arum was out on a vacation, Golden Boy
Promotions’ chief executive Richard Schaefer
politely declined to discuss Manny Pacquiao’s purse
from the Oct. 6 rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera
(at the Mandalay Bay Resort Hotel and Casino in Las
Vegas). But Pacquiao was likely to get a purse of $5
million, plus possibly a share of the pay-per-view
rights. Meanwhile Pacquiao denied gossips that he
failed to pay taxes for his Porsche SUV at the
Bureau of Customs (BoC). He bought the luxury
vehicle (Porsche Cayenne) -- two weeks before his
match with Erik Morales (A report by Thomas Hauser
of secondsout.com said the Porsche Cayenne costs
$67,639 or P3.5 million}.
A Pacquiao vs Barrera rematch is now calendared on
October 6, 2007 at Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in
Las Vegas, NV, USA. Pacquiao, at 28, is in his prime
while Barrera, at 33, is considering this fight to
be his last.
In the bible of boxing, Pacquiao (44-3-2) remains at
the top of the junior lightweight division (130
pounds). He had been in the ratings for 108 weeks.
Pacquiao is also at No. 2 in the pound-for-pound
category behind welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather,
who recently defeated Oscar de la Hoya. Related to
this are the ratings of Filipinos Donaire (18 wins,
1 lost, 11 knockouts) and Florante "The Little
Pacquiao" Condes (22-3-1 draw, 20). They have made
it to the prestigious Ring Magazine rankings (July
9). The bible of boxing put Donaire at second spot
in the flyweight division (112 pounds) just behind
Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (65-2, 34) of Thailand, who is
rated No. 1. Condes, on the other hand, is at third
in the straw weight division (105 lbs).
In popular culture
A movie based on his life has been produced and was
released on June 21, 2006. The movie is titled
Pacquiao: The Movie featuring Filipino actor Jericho
Rosales as Manny Pacquiao and is directed by Joel
Lamangan. Despite its huge P50,000,000 ($1,031,991)
budget, wide distribution (80 cinemas) and strong
marketing, the movie flopped in the box-office,
grossing a total of only P4,812,191 ($99,322)
confirmed by Lamangan.
Shortly after winning his rematch with Erik Morales,
Pacquiao produced the song "Para Sa 'Yo Ang Laban Na
'To" (Translation: "This Fight is for You") which
became a hit single all over the Philippines. It
expressed a nationalistic theme as well as
Pacquiao's struggles in the ring. The release of the
song came weeks before his second bout with Morales,
leading up to the promos to the fight. Although
"Para sa 'Yo" is his first attempt at professional
music recording, Pacquiao's victory against Morales
greatly contributed to the song's popularity.
After their third bout, Pacquiao and Morales
appeared together in a San Miguel Beer commercial
filmed for the Filipino audience. The commercial
ended with Pacquiao and Morales toasting their
friendship with San Miguels. This commercial has
been parodied in the comedy show, Bubble Gang, with
Michael V. playing Pacquiao, and Ogie Alcasid
playing Morales.
During her sixth State of the Nation Address on July
24, 2006 in Quezon City, Philippine President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo cited Pacquiao as one of the
nation's modern day heroes. "Mabuhay ka, Manny",
said Arroyo. In return, the champion delivered his
own speech endorsing Arroyo. "The President said
many good things in the SONA." Pacquiao remarked.
It is not widely known that professional wrestlers
The Undertaker and Christian Cage were actually a
part of Pacquiao's entourage during the Pacquiao vs.
Velázquez fight in 2005. An avid boxing fan, The
Undertaker was the person who carried the US flag
while leading Team Pacquiao to the ring. This was
also confirmed by another fellow wrestler, Batista.
Batista revealed this during a televised interview
in the Philippines while promoting an upcoming WWE
promotional tour which was set to be shown in this
country.Rumours are rife that Pacquiao is to enter
the world of professional wrestling having being
offered a contract by the WWE.
Pacquiao is currently being sponsored by Nike and No
Fear sports apparels.
Pacquiao owns a lottery outlet for the Philippine
Charity Sweepstakes Office.
Pacquiao is the owner of the Pac Man Gensan of the
Mindanao Visayas Basketball
Association. The team based in his hometown of General Santos City.
Pacquiao even suited up for the team for a few games
during the first conference of said league.
Pacquiao is the third non-fictional Filipino
featured in a video game. He is featured in the
video games Fight Night: Round 2 and Fight Night: Round 3. The first two
were pool legends Efren Reyes and Francisco
Bustamante, who both appeared in the World
Championship Pool 2004 video game.
Pacquiao is an avid supporter and endorser of PBA
team Barangay Ginebra Kings.
Politics
For some time, many have speculated that Manny
Pacquiao will enter politics after he ends his
boxing career. While boxing is far from over for
him, Pacquiao admitted that he is thinking about
starting a career in politics. In fact, he quietly
visited the Commission on Elections, escorted by
Arnold "Ali" Atienza (son of then Manila Mayor Lito
Atienza), to transfer his residence from General
Santos City to Manila.[citation needed] This fueled
speculations that he may seek an elective post in
the nation's capital, which even gave him the title
"Adopted Son" when he was winning his earlier bouts.
His name was once floated as a possible
vice-mayoralty candidate to the younger Atienza when
the latter seeks the city's highest post in the 2007
elections, but backed-out after Sen. Panfilo Lacson,
then the leading candidate for Manila mayor, did the
same after there were threats from his opponents to
dig up the issue of his residency. (Similarly,
Pacquiao also had such issues).
Being known as an Arroyo supporter, his name is also
being floated as a candidate of Lakas CMD for the
mayoralty race of General Santos City against
incumbent Mayor Pedro Acharon. Instead, he was
recently sworn-in as a member of the Liberal Party
under the Atienza wing, thus further fueling his
political ambition.
On February 12, 2007, the famed boxer announced that
he was running for congress representing South
Cotabato. His decision however easily turned off
both his fans and the general public. Election
experts stressed that as Pacquiao insists on
participating in his next professional boxing match,
he will immerse himself into a legal conflict
regarding campaign exposure, especially since the
match will be televised nationwide. Aside from that,
COMELEC commissioner Ben Abalos mentioned a possible
legal entanglement could ruin Pacquiao's candidacy
since he already registered himself as a Manila
resident months prior.
Numerous sports personalities and analysts around
the Philippines expressed that Pacquiao should think
seriously and deeply about his sports career, which
could potentially be destroyed by the dirty world of
politics. Popular columnist Randy David mentioned
that Pacquiao allowed himself to be used by selfish
and desperate politicians.
On February 24, 2007 in Cebu City, Pacquiao, for the
first time ever, was booed by thousands of
spectators as his presence was acknowledged by the
organizers of The Battle of Cebu, a WBO-sanctioned
boxing festival. The embarrassment later led to
confusing statements made by Manila Mayor Lito
Atienza that the famed fighter would withdraw.
Despite the statements however, Pacquiao confirmed
to the public that he would still run for office.
The negative sentiment among Cebuanos over
Pacquiao's political aspiration was felt even before
the The Battle of Cebu was held as at least one
citizen's comment got published by local newspaper
Sun Star.
In relation to the April 14 fight with Arce, the
political opposition stated that they would not
press for a ban on the broadcasting of the match
despite its potential to violate election campaign
rules.
Even though he won over Solis, Pacquiao's appeal has
diminished most likely due to his political
ambition. His last fight attracted noticeably
smaller audiences and his performance was considered
by many as disappointing. Some election candidates
even turned the Pacquiao-Solis match into campaign
gigs.
On May 17, 2007, Pacquiao suffered a lopsided
election defeat to incumbent representative Darlene
Antonino-Custodio with a deficit of about 37,000
votes according to the NAMFREL tally. Meanwhile, WBC
head Jose Sulaiman stated that Pacquiao "doesn’t
appear to be having the same dynamic impact at the
ballot box, as he does in the ringed square."
The defeat became a depressing matter for the boxer
himself as he lost a huge sum of money when his
supporters allegedly funneled campaign funds to
their own pockets. Pacquiao's personal money was
part of the campaign budget.[28] Ironically,
Pacquiao's fans rejoiced over his defeat. Some even
declared his loss as a "victory" for boxing.
Over at General Santos City, Diocese of Marbel
spokesman Fr. Angel Buenavides considered President
Arroyo's endorsement of Pacquiao as a "curse" as
constituents in the area have strong anti-Arroyo
sentiments.
On May 20, 2007, Manny Pacquiao formally conceded to
his congresswoman Antonino-Custodio, vowing to
return to boxing and spend more time with his
family.
On August 1, 2007, Pacquiao filed a P30-million
libel suit against 4 journalists of the Manila
Bulletin - sports writer Nick Giongco, publisher
Hermogenes P. Pobre, editor-in-chief Cris J. Icban
Jr., and Sports section editor Ding Marcelo. The
complaint stemmed from the article "Trouble in
Paradise-Again?" written by Giongco and published
last July 25 in F-2 sports section of the Manila
Bulletin. Pacman cited the alleged libelous fourth
paragraph of the article - "Pacquiao who spent
millions in unsuccessful bid to win a congressional
seat in his hometown in General Santos City is
reported to be a compulsive gambler and is known to
bet hundreds of thousand in casinos, cockfighting,
and billiards."
Other media
With his popularity, various business sectors
have solicited Manny Pacquiao's help in endorsing
their products through commercial advertisements in
print and in broadcast. These include detergents,
medicines, foods, garments, telecommunications, and
even a political ad for Chavit Singson during the
May 14, 2007 elections.
On April 12, 2007, the COMELEC cancelled his
comercial appearances in accordance with existing
Philippine election laws. Airing of the commercials
resumed after the elections. |
