Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao, (born December 17, 1978 in Kibawe, Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines) is a Filipino professional boxer. He is a former world champion at IBF Super Bantamweight, and WBC Flyweight divisions. His brother, Bobby Pacquiao, is a lightweight boxer.
Early career
Pacquiao started his professional boxing career in 1995 at 106 pounds (Light flyweight) 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 professional debut 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.[citation needed]
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 won the fight by technical knockout to become the IBF Super Bantamweight champion on a bout held at MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada. He defended this title four times.
[edit] Pacquiao's rise
Pacquiao went on to defend his title four times before the match that many consider to have defined his career, a non-title bout 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.
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.
[edit] 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, allegedly, was giving the child financial support which was also kept a secret from his wife until she found out and caused a problem in their marriage, but soon mended.
Trainer Freddie Roach had previously voiced concerns about the late night lifestyle and warned that the boxer was in danger of losing both his edge and focus. Roach noted that there are too many distractions surrounding Pacquiao in the Philippines.[2]
On July 2, 2006, 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 until the final round 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.[3]
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.[4] 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.[5]
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.[6]
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 barely beating the 10 count after the second knockdown, prompting the referee (who was also a doctor) to stop the fight. 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 October 6, 2007 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.[7] Pacquiao defeated Barrera in their rematch by a wide easy unanimous decision. In the 11th round, Pacquiao's punch caused a deep cut under Barrera's right eye. Barrera retaliated with an illegal punch on the break that dazed Pacquiao but also caused the referee to deduct a point from Barrera. Two judges scored the bout 118-109, while the third scored it 115-112.[8]
In The Ring magazine, Pacquiao (45-3-2) 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.[9][10]
On November 13, 2007 he was honored by the WBC as Champ Emeritus during its 45th Annual World Convention held at the Manila Hotel.[11]
On November 18, 2007, the Manila Bulletin Online edition reported a possible bout Manny Pacquiao against Oscar De La Hoya. While it remains to be seen whether it will come to fruition, the prevailing scenario will have Pacquiao battle against David Diaz, the WBC's current reigining lightweight titlist.[12]
On November 20, 2007, Jose Nunez, manager for WBO Super-lightweightweight Champion Joan Guzman, accused Pacquiao's handler, Bob Arum, of evading a match between the two boxers to protect Pacquiao.[13] Guzman went as far as to directly call-out Pacquiao at the post-fight press conference of the Pacquiao-Barrera rematch, in front of a stunned crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center's media room in Las Vegas.[14]
In January of 2008, Yahoo! Sports gave him the 16th spot in the Top 25 Most Powerful in Boxing. [1]
To date, Pacquiao and Marquez agreed to have their rematch scheduled on March 15, 2008, to be held at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada.
[edit] 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.[15] 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.
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.
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.[16] In return, the champion delivered his own speech endorsing Arroyo. "The President said many good things in the SONA." Pacquiao remarked.[citation needed]
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.
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.
Pacquiao made an appearance in the Pugad Baboy (vol. 19) comic strip.
[edit] Politics
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.[17]
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, he admitted that he is thinking about starting a career in politics. He quietly visited the Philippine 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 mentioned as a possible vice-mayoralty candidate to the younger Atienza when the latter sought 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 contentions regarding residency issues. (Similarly, Pacquiao also had such issues).
Being known as an Arroyo supporter, his name is also being floated as a candidate of the Lakas CMDparty 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.[18] His decision however easily turned off both his fans and the general public.[19] 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.[20] 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.[21][22][23][24][25] The embarrassment later led to confusing statements made by Manila Mayor Lito Atienza[26] that the famed fighter would withdraw. Despite the statements however, Pacquiao confirmed to the public that he would still run for office.[citation needed] 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.[27]
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.[28] 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.[29][30] Some election candidates even turned the Pacquiao-Solis match into campaign gigs.[31] 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.[32]
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."[33] 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.[34] Ironically, Pacquiao's fans rejoiced over his defeat.[35] Some even declared his loss as a "victory" for boxing. 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.[36][37][38]
On an unrelated event, Pacquiao denied rumors on July 7th, that he failed to pay taxes for a luxury vehicle to the Philippine Bureau of Customs when he bought a 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}.[39]
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 July 25 in F-2 sports section of the Manila Bulletin. Pacquiao 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."[40]On December 20, 2007, the P 30-million libel case filed by Manny Pacquiao was dismissed via "affidavit of desistance". Manny stated that "pursuing the case would only cause inconvenience to him and his family".[41]
[edit] 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 commercial appearances in accordance with existing Philippine election laws. Airing of the commercials resumed after the elections.
In September 2007, he signed up with GMA Network as an actor.
On December 17, 2007, after finishing a movie, "Anak ng Kumander", Pacman went to the GMA Network to tape his first episode of Pinoy Records.[42]
