A profile of Manny Pacquiao: Fighter

Manny Pacquiao’s Profile: Life, Record, Age, Net Worth, and More

Boxing is a sport that has lots of showboating to sell fights. One man, however, proved that you can become one of the greatest ever by being humble, and a very…. very good boxer.

Manny Pacquiao is arguably boxing’s greatest rags to riches story. He came from nothing to become the only boxer with world championships in 8 different divisions and a winning record against 22 boxing world champions.

He has also been one of the highest-paid athletes in the sport for a long time, and one of the biggest draws in boxing. A symbol of Filipino pride, he has also crossed over to his country’s politics, and pop culture.  

Pacquiao possessed unhuman punching power which he’d use to pick apart larger and heavier opponents, and it’d help him maintain his winning ways even in his late 30s.

Let’s revisit the Pacman and try to sum up his illustrious career.  

Manny Pacquiao’s Early Life

Emmanuel Pacquiao was born on December 17th, 1978 in Kibawe; a small town with a population of fewer than 30 thousand people at the time. Pacquiao was born into an underprivileged household and by the time his parents separated, he had five siblings. The civil war in the Philippines didn’t help his family’s state of destitution, as Pacquiao would often starve so that his brothers and sisters could eat.

The age of twelve led to quite a few changes for the young Pacquiao. He got his first pair of shoes.

But more importantly, he was also introduced to the sport that would set him and the later generations of his family for life. Pacquiao was introduced to boxing by his maternal uncle, and he took his training as a means of getting his family out of poverty.

Manny Pacquiao’s Career

Manny Pacquiao’s Amateur Career

Pacquiao showed that he was a natural early on, and took just four years to become the best boxer in the Southern part of his country. However, he wasn’t making money, certainly not ‘boxing money’. This, and him dropping out of high school due to poverty meant that he could register as a pro.

Manny Pacquiao’s Pro Career

Pacquiao met the criticism of being underweight and too young, by lying about his age and stuffing his pockets heavily during weigh-ins. He beat every single boxer, no matter how much bigger they were than him. Pacquiao quickly became the best boxer in the country and picked up the OPBF flyweight title.

At the tender age of 19, he beat Chatchai Sasakul to capture the WBC flyweight title. Pacquiao made 2 successful defenses and moved up to junior featherweight after losing the title. 6 knockout wins later, he got the opportunity of a lifetime when in 2001, the division’s world champion Lehlo Ledwaba was short of an opponent.

Manny Pacquiao’s Superstardom

Nobody wanted to fight Ledwaba on two weeks’ notice but Pacquiao took the fight and knocked him out to win the IBF world junior featherweight title in his first-ever US fight. His next match was a unification bout against his WBO champion counterpart, Agapito Sanchez to unify both their belts. An accidental head clash cut Pacquiao and the doctor stopped the fight, making it a draw.

Four more wins amongst which three were title defenses, saw Pacquiao match up against Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003. The match took place and while Barrera put up a good effort, he was finished for the first time in his career. Pacquiao won The Ring Magazine and lineal featherweight championships, but not without establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with.

His next match ended in a controversial draw against Juan Manuel Márquez and he failed to win the WBA and IBF featherweight titles. After defending his titles in the Philippines, he was scheduled to face the three-division champion, Érik Morales. The fight went the distance, and Pacquiao lost via unanimous decision.

Six months later, he won the vacant WBC International super featherweight title by knocking out Héctor Velázquez.

Then came his rematch with Morales at the start of 2006. Despite some close calls, Pacquiao would stop him in the tenth round to retain his WBC international featherweight title. Then he’d successfully defended the same belt against Oscar Larios with his first-ever UD win.

He ended the year with a tiebreaker against Morales and took only 3 rounds to knock him out this time. Pacquiao then retained his title against the undefeated Jorge Solis with an eighth-round TKO. Pacquiao then faced Marco Barrera in a rematch and defeated him with a decision win. He then faced Juan Manuel Márquez, who he had previously drawn with, in a rematch. The two went to war and Pacquiao barely won with a split decision.

Pacquiao rebuffed all the chances of a rematch, opting for a move to lightweight. He did this to challenge and then successfully beat David Díaz for his WBC lightweight title. Pacman then moved to welterweight and faced Oscar De La Hoya in a highly anticipated “money fight”. Both were iconic boxers whose promotions had been feuding for years. Pacquiao easily dismantled the ageing De La Hoya, who retired afterwards.

Pacquiao then moved to light-welterweight to dismantle Ricky Hatton and take his IBO and The Ring light welterweight titles. This was his 6th division title win and he made it 7 by KO’ing Miguel Cotto for the WBO welterweight title. He then successfully defended the belt against Joshua Clottey. He then moved to the light-middleweight division to beat Antonio Margarito, who weighed 17lbs more than him.

Manny Pacquiao’s Back-to-back Losses

On returning to welterweight, Pacquiao beat veteran Shane Mosley and then faced Juan Marquez for the third time. He would win via a controversial majority decision and then gear up to face Timothy Bradley. This time it was Pacquiao who lost a debatable decision, and his WBO welterweight title. He then faced Juan Marquez for the 4th time, where he was knocked out cold in the 6th round. After this, Pacquiao took an eleven-month hiatus.

Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather Jr.

After the loss to Marquez, Pacquiao bounced back with three unanimous decision victories in a row, including a rematch against Bradley and a title win against Brandon Ríos. He managed to win the WBO welterweight and international welterweight titles. Then in 2015, came his match against the biggest name in the business, Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The fight had been under negotiations for 6 years, ever since Pacquiao beat Miguel Cotto. The reason it never happened before was mainly due to TMT requiring ‘Olympic level testing’ for Pacquiao, which he and his coach denied. Still, it finally happened and broke all the sales records. The fighters used up all the twelve rounds and Mayweather ended up winning via a unanimous decision.

Manny Pacquiao Retirement and Comeback

Pacquiao went against Timothy Bradley for the third time and beat him to capture the vacant WBO International and lineal welterweight titles. He then announced his retirement and wanted to serve as a senator in his home country of the Philippines. However, he’d return a year later to win the WBO welterweight title from Jamie Vargas and then lose it to Jeff Horn the next year.

Pacquiao spent 2018-19 fighting three times and winning the WBA (Regular) and (Super) welterweight titles. He would officially retire while holding these belts at the age of 40, with a record of 62-7-2.

Manny Pacquiao Outside Boxing

Starting with Pacquiao’s net worth, he is worth approximately $220 million. This is amazing compared to the reimbursement of his first-ever fight of just $2. Pacquiao is just as influential outside the sport as he is in it. He has been honoured with countless awards from the Pilipino government, has his own political party, and is a serving senator. He has also acted in movies, composed albums, and tried his hand at basketball.