Manny Pacquiao has been elected to the Boxing Hall of Fame. And the sun rises in the east.
There was never any question. The only question was when he would stop fighting and become eligible. On June 8 in Canastota, New York, Pacquiao will honor a sport that didn’t realize how much of a hit it was when he was able to step into the ring 26 years ago. Before finally announcing his retirement, he raced from 108 pounds to 154 pounds during his days as a vagrant trying to scrape together food for his family in the Philippines. He won titles in eight weight classes. No one else has done that.
He’s 46 now, still 5 feet 5 inches tall, still close to fighting weight, and still a left-handed fireplug. He has a professional record of 62 wins, 8 losses, and 2 draws, including 39 KOs. As an amateur, he had 60 wins and 4 losses. I hit a lot, and I get hit a lot. But just a year ago, he was trying to spice up a match with Mario Barrios, who is a decent fighter. The fact that the match didn’t happen may be proof that God is a boxing fan.
For those of us who have been watching these things for years, it was enough that in July 2019, 40-year-old Pacquiao faced the young and strong Keith Thurman to win the World Boxing Championship. Super welterweight title. Ballet dancers don’t live past the age of 40, much less anyone who gets hit in the head and lives for more than 20 years.
Manny Pacquiao (right) delivers a punch to Keith Thurman during a welterweight bout in Las Vegas in July 2019.
(John Locher/Associated Press)
The Thurman fight took place under the bright lights of Pacquiao’s boxing home, the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. There, on various occasions, he caught Brit Ricky Hatton with one of the most beautiful KO punches ever, effectively ending Oscar De La Hoya’s golden boy career, and defeating Tim He fought a money-making trilogy with Bradley and was convincingly knocked out by Juan Manuel. Marquez lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the highest-grossing fight of all time, and many at ringside thought he was dead.
The Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight on May 2, 2015 sold 4.6 million pay-per-view tickets, with 10,000 tickets for the weigh-in (in which a man stands on a scale in his underwear) priced at $10 each. sold, raising $100 million in legal wagers in Las Vegas. McCarran Airport’s private plane area has been forced to partially close due to celebrity traffic.
Pacquiao threw body punches during his fight with Thurman, knocking Thurman to the canvas. Thurman later said that that body punch was so fatal that he had to remove his mouthguard to breathe again. Pacquiao then knocked Thurman down again, but Thurman overcame his empathy for the older man and had a great fight. But Pacquiao got too ahead of himself and won by split decision.
Afterwards, Pacquiao’s locker room area became more crowded and chaotic than usual with well-wishers and boxing enthusiasts. It was as if the handlers knew this was it, a great end to a great career. So let’s get everyone in. But while Pacquiao tried to look celebratory, he actually looked exhausted and weak, which was a warning to everyone. A 40-year-old man exchanged 1,000 punches in 45 minutes with a man half his age.
By then, Pacquiao had become one of only 24 members of the Philippine Senate, and his ambitious post-fight plans included a shower and a quick flight back to the Philippines so he could attend the State of the Union address. That’s what it was.
Fortunately, medical personnel saw his condition and intervened, delaying his return home.
This was supposed to be the end of the Thurman fight. Pacquiao became the oldest world welterweight champion in history. A respected aging champion held his own against a talented young opponent. He went out in good spirits and was able to wave goodbye with a big smile on his face.
They could have done that, but they didn’t.
WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao (right) punches Oscar De La Hoya during a welterweight bout in Las Vegas in December 2008.
(Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)
Common sense rarely applies when it comes to boxers. Macho defies logic. It’s been more than a decade since Pacquiao actually needed more paychecks in boxing. It’s not about the money, he always said. He never said clearly what it was.
His last official match was in August 2021 against Yordenis Ugas, but he lost. The perfect time to leave would have been after the Thurman fight, but in the long run it didn’t matter. Manny Pacquiao’s legacy was firmly established.
Interestingly, Pacquiao wasn’t even the best boxer at the time. That was Mayweather. But Pacquiao had style and substance, a commanding figure with a confident good nature rather than cockiness. Mayweather looked like a punk, but he wasn’t. Pacquiao played like the guy next to him, which was pretty much it.
When he returns to the Philippines and his home base in General Santos City after a normally victorious game, he is greeted by hundreds of people. Some were just groupies, but most were there to ask for food, money, and other handouts.
In May 2010, Pacquiao was running for a seat in the Philippine House of Representatives. I tried it for the first time three years ago and lost. Lesson: A good left-handed uppercut and a 30-day campaign won’t get you enough votes in the election-crazed Philippines. So he came back for a second try, spending more time campaigning and working harder. He had allowed several reporters on board, including the Wall Street Journal’s Asia bureau chief.
And what a ride it was.
A long caravan dragged along narrow roads, with Pacquiao in a bulletproof car leading the way, his campaign team and several reporters in rental cars taking up positions behind them, avoiding chickens and meandering cyclists. Disasters were everywhere, but nothing happened.
Manny Pacquiao speaks before the Philippine Senate in August 2016.
(Britt Marquez/AP)
When he arrived, the town life he had stopped also stopped. A crowd gathered in the park, children rushed to the front, sat cross-legged and stared at him in awe. And he never disappointed. He knew seven different dialects and knew which one was appropriate for the area. He spoke with fire in his eyes, often clenching his fists for emphasis rather than injury. The reporters were seated on the main stage, and although the Wall Street Journal representative had written things down to cover up, not a single word of his speech was intelligible.
As voting day approached, Pacquiao’s home in General Santos City was a beehive. When he traveled to the United States for the fight, his entourage probably numbered close to 30 people, all of them in close proximity to his training location, Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym near Hollywood and Vine. I stayed in a huge house that I owned. Visiting the house meant stepping over sleeping bodies to find a quiet place to talk. That’s what Pacquiao liked. They were friends, not groupies or cronies. Probably still is.
In the days before the Philippine election, Pacquiao often sat at his large dining table in his home, surrounded by reporters and his daughter Queen Elizabeth (whose birth in the United States was planned to make her a US citizen). . wrap. Despite all the political pressures, he was a host with a desire to please.
He owned a large cockfighting ring, acres of birds, and visits were arranged for anyone interested. Although many people did not participate due to their opposition to animal cruelty, they were able to see a field of birds and watch a real cockfight in which two birds equipped with razors clash in a fighting ring surrounded by bleachers. Some people went to see it. Drinks were then served and then dinner, although it looked like maybe some of the main courses were a miss.
When Pacquiao won this election, he was surrounded by reporters and well-wishers as the crucial results of the race appeared on the screens in the early morning hours, smiling bigger than his post-fight victory in the boxing ring. I showed it. Emotional display. Maybe a win against Mayweather would have surpassed that, but we’ll never know.
After his moment of victory in the midnight parliamentary elections, Pakiao became one of the 24 sitting senators in the Philippines to run for the 2022 presidential election. He received over 3 million votes but finished in third place. The winner was Bongbong Marcos, the son of former president Ferdinand Marcos and his mother Imelda, who owns the world’s largest shoe collection.
Manny Pacquiao celebrates after defeating Brandon Rios for the WBO welterweight title in Macau in November 2013.
(Vincent Yu/AP)
Pacquiao’s return to the United States in June for his Hall of Fame induction celebration will be one of the few times he completed a long trip without a fight on the line or weeks of questions about his mood and thoughts. Probably. his opponent. This time, he’ll be able to travel, relax and reunite with old friends, including longtime trainer Freddie Roach, longtime promoter Bob Arum and longtime publicist Fred Sternberg. Fittingly, all three are already Hall of Famers.
Pacquiao has said he will bring his family, which he believes is about 75 people. Look for large charter jets. Expect lots of smiles, hugs, and good old fashioned stories. Some of them, glorified or not, Sternberg will turn into news releases.
Also, don’t be surprised to hear that Pacquiao is considering another fight, even though Roach, Arum, and Sternberg will likely talk him into it soon. Well, maybe not Sternburg.
