Manny Pacqiao: Rags to Riches

by: Unofre Pili socyberty.com

Born of typical poverty-stricken Filipino family, Manny Pacquiao abandoned his elementary school when his father eloped with another woman, forcing the schoolboy to abandon his studies to help out his mother support the deserted family. He peddled breads and homemade doughnuts most of the days in the streets of General Santos City, Philippines - his hometown, and at times he had to brave the excruciating heat of the Philippine sun in order to sold out his poor merchandise.

When not peddling he would wander around neighboring villages looking for boxing matches during town fiestas for a reward of around $ 3.0 for the winner and $2.0 for the loser. Win or lose, Manny would return home with his reward intact and turned it over to his mother for rice and fish for a good meal together with his siblings.

Manny, however kept on winning his fights that it did not take long for boxing aficionados of this maritime city in Southern Philippines to take notice of his boxing talent. His agility and power that kept on knocking out his opponents enamored many boxing personalities. Invited by one of them that he would be brought to the capital city of Manila to hone his sport, he did not hesitate and eagerly asked permission of his mother. Mother Dionisia, a pious woman coaxed her son that she delivered on December 17,1978 instead for the priesthood, and though a religious boy himself, Manny refused until he sailed one day for Manila without the poor old woman's consent for she was adamant as most mothers in the world in disallowing their sons from joining the brutal, yet honorable sport of boxing.

Arriving at the big city, the young Manny was entered into a prominent boxing gymnasium and trained with consummate dedication. He kept on winning his early professional fights, but just like any other beginner and unknown fighter, his prize was no more than with what a drudger receives that he could hardly send extra amount back home. To augment his income, he employed himself in the gymnasium where he trained. He did the gardening and cleaning and occasionally a construction laborer while pursuing his early boxing career.

Despite his sidelines, the young Pacquiao trained like there was no tomorrow; comparing to the work ethic of his fellow prizefighters, each day he would train earliest and stop when all were gone resting. No wonder and as expected, he raked eleven straight wins before collecting his first professional loss to Rustico Torrecampo on February 9, 1996, barely a year after he joined the professional ranks. Torrecampo was the only fellow Filipino to have defeated the future great champion. Pacquiao was forced though, to wear a pair of heavier gloves in that fight for not making the weight limit of the flyweight division that he must have grown. Still heavyhearted, he had invited thoughts of giving up boxing, but as destiny would have it, he chose to continue, leaving behind the haunting memory of his first knockout defeat, and with much ease he was able to resume his usual winning ways by knocking out adversaries from Japan, Thailand and South Korea.

It did not take long until he traveled to Thailand again for the World Boxing Council(WBC) world flyweight crown of one of the country's all-time great champions-Chatchai Sasakul. The equally talented Thai opponent was giving him a good boxing lesson until he caught him up with a well-placed solitary punch, sending the reigning champion to the ring floor grimacing in pain and, unable to beat the referee's count, his Filipino adversary became a world champion at the youthful age of nineteen on December 24, 1998.

Still growing up, the new champion barely made weight for his second title defense and climbed the ring dehydrated. Consequently, he lost by knockout in the third canto of the fight against a Thai challenger in Medgoen Singsurat on September 17, 1999 at the Pakpanag Metropolitan Stadium, Nikhon Si Thammarat in Thailand. The loss embittered Pacquiao for some of his handlers became reluctant to provide him another good fight because of his decline in marketability. Nevertheless, he was given the benefit of the doubt; unbowed, Manny Pacquiao (32-2-0,23KO's) trained more harder and re-launched his career a division higher and went on to capture the super bantamweight International Boxing Federation(IBF) world belt via an impressive 6th round knockout victory against the then dreaded South African world champion, Lehlohonolo Ledwaba (33-1-1,22KO's; Win-Loss-Draw, Knockouts record), in June 2001 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, United States. He did receive a small purse though, but the victory had made much noise that reverberated in the consciousness of the mainstream American fans.

Pacquiao went on to defend his title impressively four times before he voluntarily relinquished it in 2003 for monetary and legacy reasons. He moved a division higher once more to issue a challenge on the great Marco Antonio Barrera (57-3-0, 40KO's). The legendary figure of the sport from the boxing world power - Mexico, casually accepted the challenge, claiming it a tune-up for a forthcoming difficult fight; a statement least questioned by experienced analysts, writers and the majority of the boxing community. Instead, the fighter known as the Baby-Faced Assassin fought helpless against the fire power, blinding speed and ferocity of the Filipino fighting demon. Barerra's corner came to his rescue by throwing the towel in the 11th round when he went down and was receiving too much punishment. The victory earn the distinction as a huge upset of the year, for the vast majority except his corner believed Pacquiao stood a chance against a rival whose name was already heading to the Boxing Hall of Fame. Pacquiao became an instant superstar in that fateful day of November 15, 2003 at the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, United States. His post-Barrera fights would later empty the busy streets of Manila and all other cities across the Philippine archipelago while insurgents and misguided elements in society would take a break from their crook activities to watch Pacquiao in action, making zero criminal-related incidence in the entire country during the duration of the fight. Not that the Philippines is scarce of boxing talents, but Pacquiao is truly the world's most exciting contemporary fighter as claimed by boxing writers and both diehard and casual boxing fans around the world.