Manny Pacquiao

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. ( PAK-ee-ow; locally [ˈmanɪ pɐkˈjaʊ]; born December 17, 1978) is a Filipino professional boxer and former politician. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time, becoming the only eight-division world champion in boxing history. He also served as a senator of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022.

Pacquiao has won twelve major world titles overall. He won the lineal championship in four different weight classes (flyweight, featherweight, super featherweight, light welterweight). Pacquiao is the first boxer to win major world titles in four of the eight "glamour divisions" (flyweight, featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight), and is the only boxer to hold world championships across four decades (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s). In July 2019, Pacquiao became the oldest welterweight world champion in history at the age of 40, and the first boxer in history to become a recognized four-time welterweight champion, after defeating Keith Thurman to win the WBA (Super) welterweight title. As of 2015, Pacquiao's fights had generated $1.2 billion in revenue from his 25 pay-per-view bouts. Forbes ranked him the second highest paid athlete in the world in 2012 and 2015, and the eighth highest paid athlete of the 2010s. In 2024, ESPN ranked Pacquiao as the greatest Asian athlete of the 21st century. In 2025, The Ring ranked Pacquiao second among the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of the 21st century. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the class of 2025.

Pacquiao entered politics in 2010 when he was elected as the representative of Sarangani. He held this post for six years until he was elected and assumed office as a senator in 2016. He became the leader of the (at that time ruling) PDP–Laban party in 2020 (which is disputed since 2021). On September 19, 2021, Pacquiao officially declared his candidacy for President of the Philippines in the 2022 Philippine presidential election; he ended up losing to Bongbong Marcos. Following his unsuccessful campaign in the 2025 Senate election, he announced his intention to retire from politics and came out of retirement from boxing.

Outside of boxing and politics, Pacquiao was the player-coach for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) team Kia/Mahindra for three seasons from 2014 to 2017, before founding the semi-professional Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. He has also starred in films and has presented television shows. In music, he has released multiple PARI-certified platinum albums and songs; his cover of "Sometimes When We Touch" peaked at 19 in the United States on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart after a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! He is an Evangelical Christian preacher, philanthropist, and entrepreneur.

Early life and education

Manny Pacquiao was born as Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao on December 17, 1978, in Kibawe, Bukidnon, on the island of Mindanao, Philippines. He is the son of Rosalio Pacquiao and actress Dionisia Dapidran. His parents separated when he was in sixth grade, after his father had an affair. He is the fourth of six siblings, one of whom, Alberto "Bobby" Pacquiao, is also a politician and former professional boxer. Pacquiao was raised in General Santos, South Cotabato, also on the island of Mindanao.

At the age of 14, Pacquiao moved to Manila and lived on the streets, worked as a construction worker and had to pick between eating or sending money to his mother. Pacquiao completed his elementary education at Saavedra Saway Elementary School in General Santos, but dropped out of high school due to extreme and abject poverty.

In February 2007, Pacquiao took and passed a high school equivalency exam, and was awarded with a high school diploma by the Department of Education.

Boxing career

Overview

Manny Pacquiao has an amateur record of 60–4 and a record of 62–8–3 as a professional, with 39 wins by knockout. Boxing historian Bert Sugar ranked Pacquiao as the greatest southpaw fighter of all time. In 2021, he ranked number 1 in DAZN's list of the top 10 boxers of the last 30 years.

Pacquiao made history by being the first boxer ever to win world titles in eight weight divisions, having won twelve major world titles. He won the lineal championship in four different weight classes. Pacquiao is also the first boxer in history to win major world titles in four of the original eight weight classes of boxing, also known as the "glamour divisions" (flyweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight), and the first boxer ever to become a four-decade world champion, winning world championships across four decades (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s).

Pacquiao was long rated as the best active boxer in the world, pound for pound, by most sporting news and boxing websites, including ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Sporting Life, Yahoo! Sports, About.com, BoxRec and The Ring, beginning from his climb to lightweight until his losses in 2012. He is also the longest reigning top-ten active boxer on The Ring's pound for pound list from 2003 to 2016.

Pacquiao has generated approximately 20.4 million in pay-per-view (PPV) buys and $1.3 billion in revenue from 26 PPV-bouts. According to Forbes, he was the world's second highest paid athlete in 2015.

Pacquiao signed with Bob Arum's Top Rank from 2015 to 2017 and Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) promotion on 2018 alongside Paradigm Sports Management on 2020.

On September 29, 2021, Pacquiao announced his retirement from boxing, in a post on social media.

On July 28, 2024, Pacquiao made his debut on Super RIZIN 3 in an exhibition featherweight bout against kickboxer Rukiya Anpo in a boxing match under Rizin Special standing bout rules. As there was no judge's decision, the bout ended in a draw.

Early years

Pacquiao was introduced to boxing at the age of 12 by his maternal uncle Sardo Mejia. According to his autobiography, Pacquiao said watching James "Buster" Douglas defeat Mike Tyson in 1990 with his Uncle Sardo was an experience that "changed my life forever". Mejia began training his nephew in a makeshift home gym. After 6 months of training, Pacquiao began boxing in a park in General Santos, eventually traveling to other cities to fight higher-ranked opponents. By age 15, he was considered the best junior boxer in the southern Philippines and he moved to Manila. In January 1995, at the age of 16, he made his professional boxing debut as a junior flyweight.

Pacquiao stated of his early years, "Many of you know me as a legendary boxer, and I'm proud of that. However, that journey was not always easy. When I was younger, I became a fighter because I had to survive. I had nothing. I had no one to depend on except myself. I realized that boxing was something I was good at, and I trained hard so that I could keep myself and my family alive."

On December 4, 1998, at the age of 19, he won his first major title, the World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight title.

Notable fights

Over the course of his decorated career, Pacquiao has defeated 22 world champions: Chatchai Sasakul, Lehlohonolo Ledwaba, Jorge Eliécer Julio, Marco Antonio Barrera (twice), Érik Morales (twice), Óscar Larios, Jorge Solís, Juan Manuel Márquez (twice), David Díaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley, Brandon Ríos, Timothy Bradley (twice), Chris Algieri, Jessie Vargas, Lucas Matthysse, Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman.

Pacquiao's most recent bout was against Mario Barrios in July 2025.

Pacquiao also participated in an exhibition match against former world champion Jesus Salud in August 2002 which he won.

Ranking and awards

Pacquiao was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 2000s by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA), World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Organization (WBO), The Sporting News and Home Box Office (HBO). In 2006, 2008, and 2009, he was awarded Ring magazine, ESPN and BWAA's Fighter of the Year, and in 2009 and 2011 he won the Best Fighter ESPY Award. BoxRec ranks him as the greatest Asian fighter of all time. In 2016, Pacquiao ranked No. 2 on ESPN's list of top pound for pound boxers of the past 25 years and he ranks No.4 in BoxRec's ranking of the greatest pound for pound boxers of all time. As of 2022, Pacquiao was ranked ninth in The Ring's list of the top 100 boxers of all time. In 2025, Pacquiao was awarded the Fighter of the Century honor by the World Boxing Council and joined Sugar Ray Robinson as the only boxer to have won the "triple crown" of legacy awards: Fighter of the Year, Fighter of the Decade and Fighter of the Century. Also in 2025, Pacquiao ranked second behind his fierce rival Floyd Mayweather in The Ring's list of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of the 21st century.