LAS VEGAS—Manny Pacquiao is arguably the most intriguing figure in contemporary sport— an eight-time world champion who is boxing’s closest equivalent to Joseph and his biblical coat of many colors.
There seems to be no end to the career paths pursued by the Filipino southpaw who has already made his name outside the ring as a politician, philanthropist, lawmaker and singer.
Last month, he launched his own MP8 cologne fragrance and recorded the 1977 ballad “Sometimes When We Touch” with the song’s creator Dan Hill.
Pacquiao is also a humble man of remarkable paradoxes—a richly gifted boxer who can unleash a withering flurry of jabs to the body and head while displaying a gentle human touch.
In his most recent fight, a unanimous points victory over Mexican Antonio Margarito in November, he took pity on his bruised opponent in the late rounds and eased up on attack.
“I saw him ask Margarito: ‘Are you okay?’ and he nodded to him,” Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said. “Manny became friends with Margarito through the 12 rounds and he does that in sparring too.”
“That’s why I am always changing his sparring partners,” Roach added with a chuckle. “I keep telling him not to be friends with these guys because one punch can change everything.”
“I say to Manny: ‘You will make more money if you knock them out.’ He likes that.”
Consumed with doing good
Veteran promoter Bob Arum is convinced Pacquiao will achieve even greater success outside the ring.
“I have never seen a personality with a whole country behind him who live and die with his every move,” Arum told Reuters ahead of Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight title defense against Shane Mosley on Saturday.
“He is such a humanitarian, such a caring person for the poor and he is so consumed with doing good.”
“That’s why I believe his accomplishments outside of boxing will eclipse anything he does in boxing, even if he is universally recognized as the greatest fighter that ever lived.”
An adored figure in the Philippines, Pacquiao won a seat in Congress last year and has asked President Aquino for $5 million to fund a much-needed hospital in his Sarangani province.
The Filipino, who was featured in Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2009, hopes construction will begin shortly to finally bring medical services to his province.
“Since when I was young, my dream is that I want to help people and right now it’s the right time to help them because I am in that position,” Pacquiao, 32, told Reuters. “I want to be a champion as a public servant.”
On the streets
Pacquiao knows all about poverty, having left home at the age of 14 to help support his mother and her six children and, for a while, he lived on the streets.
“He is of the people,” said Arum. “He experienced hunger and poverty on the streets of Manila so he has seen it all.”
“Manny is one of the few athletes to have experienced that extreme poverty but then raised himself up, made a success of himself and has tried to help others. That’s why he is such a compelling figure.”
The goateed Pacquiao enjoys rock-star status in his homeland and he has pledged to wear yellow gloves in the ring on Saturday to give hope to those fighting hunger and poverty in the Philippines.
“All of my life, I have had to fight,” said the Filipino whose victory over Margarito six months ago earned him an eighth world title in an unprecedented eighth weight class. “As a child, I had to fight just to eat.”
Biggest fight
“The biggest fight of my life is not in boxing. No, the biggest fight in my life is how to end poverty in my country and this Saturday, I will wear yellow gloves as a symbol of unity and poverty. We can only win this fight together.”
Pacquiao is guaranteed $20 million from Saturday’s bout and, as a man who repeatedly hands out money to those in need, you can bet that much of that pot will end up funding many of his less fortunate compatriots.
“The Philippines has a social welfare system and they call it Manny Pacquiao,” said Arum. Reuters