Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao, (born December 17, 1978 in Kibawe, Bukidnon, Mindanao, Philippines) is a Filipino professional boxer. He is the current WBC Super Featherweight Champion. He is also the former world champion at IBF Super Bantamweight, and WBC Flyweight divisions. He is the first Asian boxer to have won three titles in three different weight divisions. His younger brother, Bobby Pacquiao, is a lightweight boxer.
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, 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.
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, then 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 in 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.
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, Jinkee, 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 Lightweight 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]
Super featherweight world champion
On March 15, 2008, in a rematch dubbed as "Unfinished Business: Pacquiao-Marquez II", Pacquiao won via a highly disputed split decision over Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao won the World Boxing Council (WBC) and The Ring super featherweight belts, making him the first Asian to win 3 world titles in 3 different weight divisions (Pacquiao is a former WBC Flyweight Champion, IBF Super bantamweight and now WBC Super featherweight). Pacquiao knocked down Marquez at the third round, although Marquez says "That knockdown, he got me cold. But then I adjusted my game plan and I thought from then on I dictated the rest of the fight." Both boxers had bad cuts near their eyes, Pacquiao had his underneath his eye while Marquez had an even worse cut over his eyelid because of an illegal hedbutt provoked by Pacquiao.
The judges scored it 115-112 for Pacquiao, 115-112 for Marquez, and 114-113 for Pacquiao. Marquez expressed disapproval of the result saying that "...I fought a great fight and still feel like I am the champ." Pacquiao, for his part, said that "I don't think so, this business is over," about a third fight. "I'm moving up to 135 pounds."
On March 16 2008, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer offered Pacquiao the sum of $6 million for a Pacquiao-Marquez rematch, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said that if that was to happen it would be until fall 2008, although nothing was said for sure. [15]
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