Manny Pacquiao

Some Lesser Known Facts About Manny Pacquiao

• Manny was born into a very poor family in Kibawe, Bukidnon, Philippines.

• When Manny was two years old, his family moved to an isolated place, where he spent his early life with his five siblings in a single room.

• He was impressed by Bruce Lee in his childhood and often copied Bruce Lee’s moves.

  

• When he was 6 or 7 years old, he got his first job as an assistant to an old fisherman.

• Manny had his first fistfight when he was 9 years old. It was between him and some schoolboys who bullied his younger brother Bobby.

• When he was studying in 6th grade, his parents separated as his father had an affair. His parents reunited in 2015.

• In 1990, he watched a professional boxing bout for the first time. It was between James Buster Douglas and Mike Tyson in Tokyo.

• He started boxing training under his uncle Sardo Mejia at the age of twelve.

  

• During his teenage, he left General Santos City and went to Manila. His first job in Manila was scraping the rust off the local Metal Yard. He later worked in a construction company. Sometimes, when he was out of work and had nothing to eat, at that time he would go to some restaurants and wash dishes in exchange for food.

  

• In Manila, he met Ben Delgado, owner of a gym in Sampaloc. Delgado agreed to train Manny and even allowed him to stay in a small room inside the gym.

  

• Manny started his career in a local boxing show on television called Blow by Blow, where he was paid two dollars per fight. He only measured 4’11” and weighed 98 pounds (7 pounds under the mini-flyweight division) at that time.

• To qualify for Blow by Blow, Manny had to cheat, he was under 18 and weighed less than the required 100 pounds. He told the producers that he was 18 and he put some steel balls in his pockets.

• His amateur record stands at 60-4 most of which came from knockouts.

  

• In 1996, he experienced his first loss in his professional career after getting knocked out by his opponent Rustico Torrecampo.

• In a match for the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation Flyweight title on 26 June 1997, Manny won his first Belt after knocking out his opponent Chokchai Chockvivat in the fifth round.

  

• Manny met his future wife Jinkee for the first time in General Santos Mall, where she worked as a beauty consultant.

  

• On 15 November 2003, he defeated Marco Antonio Barrera via a technical knockout (TKO), which made him very popular in the Philippines.

• In 2005, he lost his first championship match in the super featherweight division against Erik Morales but won the next 2 matches against him.

  

• Pacquiao used to record most of his entrance songs which became famous. He later sang covers of many English songs which were ranked in the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

• His Filipino albums named Laban Nating Lahat Ito (2006), Pac-Man Punch (2007), and Lalaban Ako para sa Pilipino (EP) (2015) were liked by his fans and supporters.

  

• On 27 April 2006, he became a sergeant in the reserve force of the Philippine Army. He was promoted to the post of Technical Sergeant on 1 December 2006.

• On 7 October 2007, he became a master sergeant. On 4 May 2009, he became a Senior Master Sergeant and the Command Sergeant Major of the 15th Ready Reserve Division.

  

• In 2007, he ran for the congressional seat of the first district of South Cotabato but lost to then-sitting congresswoman Darlene Antonino-Custodio.

• On 28 June 2008, after defeating David Diaz, Manny became the first Filipino fighter to ever win a world title in a lightweight championship.

  

• He was the flag bearer of the delegation of the Philippines in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. With this, he became the first-ever non-participant to serve as the country’s flagbearer.

• On 6 December 2008, he defeated Oscar De La Hoya via unanimous decision with two judges scoring the fight 80-71 and one judge scoring it 79-72, all in favour of Pacquiao.

  

• The fight generated around $70 million in revenue from 1.2 million pay-per-view (PPV) buys and $17 million from live gate. Pacquaio earned between $15-30 million from the fight.

• He made headlines in 2009 when he was included in Time’s 100 Most Influential People for the Year and Forbes’ Annual Celebrity 100 list for the year.

  

• In 2009, Manny starred in a Filipino film Wapakman in which he portrayed Magno Manese.

  

• In May 2010, he defeated the wealthy and politically connected Chiongbian clan and became a first-time congressman from Sarangani province.

  

• In 2010, he did a certificate course in Development, Legislation, and Governance at the Development Academy of the Philippines – Graduate School of Public and Development Management (DAP-GSPDM) to become a good congressman.

• Kia Motors Basketball team (renamed Terrafirma Dyip) acquired him in the 2014 PBA draft for the 2014-2015 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) season.

  

• He was the oldest rookie to be ever drafted in the league’s history. He used to play basketball during fitness sessions before signing up for the league. He retired from basketball in 2018.

• On 2 May 2015, he lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas by unanimous decision with the scores of 118–110, 116–112, and 116–112. After the fight, Pacquiao’s camp said that he injured his right shoulder in a training camp due to which he could not win.

  

• Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight generated more than $400 million in revenue with 4.4 million PPV buys and $72 million live gate. Their fight was also called the ‘Fight of the Century’ by many boxing fans.

  

• There were rumours in 2016 that Pacquiao would compete in the Rio Olympics; however. he denied it.

• On 9 April 2016, he took a temporary retirement from boxing after his fight against Timothy Bradley.

  

• He was often criticised for low attendance in Congress; however, he often appeared in political programs.

• He made his comeback on 5 November 2016 with a boxing match against Jessie Vargas, which he won.

  

• Pacquiao founded a semi-professional league named Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) in 2017, which turned professional in 2022.

• In July 2018, he became a colonel in the Reserve Force of the Philippine Army.

  

• During the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, he teamed up with Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, and brought more than 50,000 test kits to the Philippines.

  

• He fought many boxers such as Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman before retiring from boxing in 2021.

  

• In 2022, he ran for the President of the Philippines but lost to Bongbong Marcos.

  

• He continued playing exhibition boxing matches such as against South Korean martial artist, DK Yoo.

  

• He revealed that he has been in talks with the popular Muay Thai fighter Buakaw Banchamek for a boxing match to be held in 2024.

• In 2024, the Philippine Olympic Committee submitted a petition to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to increase the age limit for the 2024 Paris Olympics so that Pacquiao could fight, but the IOC refused to do so.

• Hence, Pacquiao finished his boxing career without any Olympic medal or any appearance or fight in the Olympics.

• Manny is a philanthropist. He donates one million pesos to a hospital in GenSan every time he has got fight.

• His animated character has been featured in some boxing video games such as Fight Night Round 2, Fight Night Round 3 and Fight Night Round 4.

•  He revealed in an interview that he once abstained from sex for 21 days before a fight.

• Manny had a pet dog of the ‘Jack Russel Terrier’ breed who shares the same nickname ‘Pacman’ and also accompanied Pacquiao while running and gymming. The dog died in 2020 after turning 14 years old.

  

• Several films have been made on Pacquiao’s life such as Pacquiao: The Movie (2006) in which Jericho Rosales portrayed him and Kid Kulafu in 2015, featuring Robert Villar as Pacquiao.

  

• A documentary titled ‘Manny’ narrated by Liam Neeson was based on the boxing and political life of Manny Pacquiao. He has also been name-dropped (mentioned his name) in several hip-hop and rap songs such as Pitbull‘s ‘Get It Started’ and Rick Ross’s ‘High Definition.’

• It has been reported that he does not have a very good relationship with his father as his father left him during childhood; however, he and his father have denied such claims.

  

• He often uploads photos of his private jet and a helicopter on social media which shows his lavish lifestyle.

  

• He is a Christian preacher as well and often conducts morning prayers in the church.