How Manny Pacquiao Changed the Way Filipinos View Boxing

How Manny Pacquiao Changed the Way Filipinos View Boxing Manny Pacquiao’s life has been tagged as one of the most popular rags-to-riches stories in the Philippines. Among others are those of Henry Sy, John Gokongwei and of a lot other successful entrepreneurs today. But, Manny Pacquiao is unique because he didn’t start his career as a businessman, but as a full-blown boxer.

From Rags to Riches

Most of Pacquiao’s life was spent in poverty. He used to sell doughnuts in the streets. He also started young. His first boxing fight was when he was 12 and he won less than a hundred of pesos in that fight. He gave his mother the money to buy rice.

He began to box professionally at the age of 16. He won a lot of fights and earned international fame when he won against American boxer Oscar De La Hoya in 2008 and England’s Ricky Hatton in 2009. He turned into a worldwide sensation overnight. Since then, nearly all Filipinos—and plenty of boxing fans from all over the globe—tune into the tube every time a televised broadcast of his fight plays out. Pacquiao has long been recognised as one of the world’s finest boxers, receiving various titles such as “Fighter of the Decade” for the 2000s decade. Now, he has already claimed world titles in seven different weight divisions, a first in the boxing history of the Philippines. During his career, he won 53 out of 61 matches with two draws.

PacMan on Money

Pacquiao literally lives like a king, with a bevy of assistants, chaperones, and other paid employees. According to a report, Pacquiao earned USD223 million or PHP 89 billion on pay-per-views alone, since his first talked-about fight in 2006 against the Mexican boxer, Eric Morales.

According to Forbes magazine, Pacquiao's lifetime earnings surpassed the USD300 million mark with his recent fight against Brandon Rios in Macau. With that much money, you could feed an entire barangay in ten lifetimes, send a lot of children to school, or even rebuild the whole region of Yolanda-devastated provinces. That’s how much money the Pacman makes.

Because of Pacquiao, Filipinos have changed their views on boxing, from being relegated to a mere brawl or fight inside the ring into being a good money-making career choice. More young Filipinos today are training for, and starting, a career in boxing, dreaming that one day, their success will also help get their families out of poverty.

The PacMan’s Wide-Reaching Influence

Aside from his boxing career, he produced a number of films, and albums starring himself, and is now active in politics and religion. You could say he really is influential.

As a boxer, Manny is undoubtedly popular and successful in every sense of the word. Everyone in the planet knows him, even the superstars in the other fields are self-proclaimed fans. As a public servant, Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquiao has held a seat in the Congress of the Philippines since May 2010. As part of the entertainment industry, he also produced and starred in movies that made him into a media’s darling. Now, his controversial change in religion and lifestyle, where he does bible-reading and preaches to large crowds in venues like the Araneta Coliseum, is only adding to his social cache.

Pacquiao was part of the TIME magazine’s annual list of influential people—he is, in fact, the first Filipino to make it on the list, back in 2009. He ranked #22 on the list—one that included Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and the Dalai Lama.

Pacquiao is now one of the highest-paid boxing fighters with more than billions to his name and the pride of his countrymen at his back. He’s proof that with sheer dedication, perseverance in your craft, and hard, hard work—along with a little luck along the way—often pays you back tons in the end.


About the Author

This article was contributed by Mark Yasay of MoneyMax, Philippines leading comparison website. This portal helps individuals in saving money by comparing credit cards, personal loans, insurance and broadband plans.