Boxing
What you should know about Manny Pacquiao, Asia’s rags to riches champion
Manny Pacquiao, one of the most decorated fighters in world boxing, announced his retirement from the sport on Wednesday (Sept 29) to concentrate on a run for the presidency of the Philippines.
Below are some facts about Pacquiao:
1. Humble beginnings
Pacquiao was born in 1978 in Kibawe, in the southern province of Bukidnon. He is one of six siblings raised in a single-parent family and lived in a shack. He quit school at 10.
His full name is Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao and he is known in boxing by the nickname Pacman and in the Philippines as “Pambansang Kamao” (The National Fist).
He was introduced by a relative to boxing in General Santos City at age 12 and took part in street fights where the winner received 100 pesos (S$2.67) and the loser, 50 pesos. “I heard that when you fight, even when you lose, you have money,” he said in 2015, recalling why he took up boxing.
When he was 14, he was a stowaway on a boat bound for the capital Manila, where he lived on the streets and did construction jobs to earn money to send home.
His talent as a boxer was recognised early on and at age 16, he became a junior professional. Filipinos became familiar with him from bouts carried live on television.
2. Career takes off
He won his first major title in 1998, age 19, with his World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight title knockout of Thai Chatchai Sasakul, in Thailand, a title he retained five months later against Mexican Gabriel Mira.
On his 21st birthday, Pacquiao added the vacant WBC international super bantamweight title, which he defended five times in the 17 months that followed.
In June 2001, he added the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super bantamweight title on his United States debut at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada, the venue for most of his fights in the following two decades.
In the past 20 years, Pacquiao has fought in the Philippines only four times.
3. Best pound for pound fighter
Pacquiao is known for his fast footwork and blistering speed of punches, and is widely regarded as one of the top offensive fighters in the sport’s history.
As the only fighter to win world titles in eight different weight divisions, many consider him the best pound-for-pound boxer of all time. The late boxing historian Bert Sugar rated Pacquiao the best southpaw – a left-hander who leads with the right – that ever lived.
Veteran promoter Bob Arum in 2010 said Pacquiao was unmatched, and rated him better than Muhammad Ali. “His left and right hand hit with equal power and that is what destroys his opponents,” Arum told Reuters.
4. Politics and money
Pacquiao had a net worth of 3.2 billion pesos (S$85.5 million) at the end of 2020, according to his statement of assets and liabilities. His 2015 encounter with Floyd Mayweather remains the best-selling pay-per-view (PPV) fight in boxing history, grossing US$410 million (S$556 million), and his 24 PPV bouts have generated 20 million buys.
Pacquiao has juggled his boxing career with one in domestic politics, albeit with frequent absences while preparing for fights. In 2010, he won a seat in Congress at the second attempt and was reelected three years later, despite having one of the worst attendance records in the house.
In 2016, he won a seat in the higher-profile Senate, where he co-authored a Bill to repeal the death penalty and steadfastly backed President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, a campaign condemned by the international community for killing thousands of mostly urban, poor Filipinos.
In a 2016 interview with Reuters, Pacquiao admitted to having as a youth experimented for years with “all kinds of drugs”.
He landed himself in hot water during campaigning for the senate, when he said gay couples were “worse than animals”, resulting in sports giant Nike terminating its contract with him, despite Pacquiao apologising for the remark, which saw his opinion poll rating drop.
Earlier this month, he announced he would run for the presidency, a move analysts say could be his toughest fight yet.
-Reuters
Undisputed heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk has been released after detention by law-enforcement officers at Poland’s Krakow airport, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday.
“I was outraged by this attitude towards our citizen and champion,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.
“Our champion was released and no one is detaining him anymore.”
It was not immediately clear why the 37-year-old Usyk was detained. The WBC, WBO and WBA champion, who also won gold at the 2012 London Olympics, has been a national hero aiding Kyiv’s war efforts.
Poland’s foreign and interior ministries did not immediately reply to Reuters’ requests for comments.
“Friends, everything is fine,” Usyk said in an Instagram post. “There was a misunderstanding that was quickly resolved. Thank you to everyone who was concerned.”
He added, “Respect to the Polish law enforcement officers who perform their duties regardless of height, weight, arm span, and titles.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X that his ministry will contact the Polish foreign ministry, as it considered the detention “disproportionate and unacceptable in relation to our champion.”
Polish TVP Info, a television news channel run by state broadcaster TVP, published a social media video on its website showing Polish law-enforcement officers walking the handcuffed Usyk through what appeared to be an airport.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the video.
Usyk beat Tyson Fury in May to become undisputed heavyweight boxing world champion in a thrilling contest at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
The 37-year-old Ukrainian is the first boxer to hold all four major heavyweight belts at the same time and the first undisputed champ since the end of Lennox Lewis’ reign in April 2000.
Usyk’s charity fund, Usyk Foundation, aids Kyiv’s forces in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion against Ukraine in 2022. It buys, among others, ambulances and delivers humanitarian aid to the front line.
Usyk’s wife, Yekaterina Usyk, who posted a blurred photo of her husband surrounded by uniformed officers, said in an Instagram post in English that she was thankful her husband was free after a misunderstanding.
-Reuters
Mike Tyson said he was fit and ready for his Nov. 15 fight against Jake Paul as the two boxers had a joint news conference in New York City on Sunday.
The match was originally scheduled for July 20 but was postponed after former heavyweight champion Tyson, 58, had an ulcer flare-up that forced some resting time.
“Iron Mike”, who has a 50-6 record with 44 knockouts, was one of the most feared heavyweights in history but has not fought a professional fight since 2005.
When asked why he returned to the ring so long after retirement, Tyson’s response was clear: “Because I can. Who else can do it but me? We have a YouTuber fighting the greatest fighter ever to live.”
“He may have been in the ring with people who have the same intentions, but the actuality, no.
“As soon as I catch this guy it’s going to be totally over, he is going to run. He is gonna run like a thief.”
Paul, who was booed and heckled by the crowd, claimed he would put Tyson to sleep.
“I am here to make 40 million dollars and knock out a legend,” Paul said.
“I love Mike and I respect him but we are not friends anymore until Nov. 15,” he said.
When asked if he was afraid of being in the ring with Paul, Tyson replied sarcastically: “I am terrified.”
YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul, 27, is 31 years his junior and has a 10-1 boxing record.
The fight will be streamed live globally on Netflix and will take place at the 80,000-seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
-Reuters
Finland’s Robert Helenius has been banned for two years due to Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) for the presence and use of a prohibited substance for his bout against Britain’s Anthony Joshua in August 2023, UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) said on Friday.
Former heavyweight world champion Joshua beat stand-in Helenius with a seventh round single-punch knockout at the London O2 Arena.
But Helenius’s sample from a voluntary drug test the day before the bout tested positive for clomifene, which the Finnish boxer said may have originated from consuming eggs and chicken.
Helenius, now 40, was provisionally suspended and UKAD said he was unable to provide proof that “the eggs and chicken meat he had consumed in advance of the bout originated from hens that had been administered clomifene”.
“Mr Helenius was therefore unable to identify the source of clomifene in his sample and therefore unable to reduce the applicable period of ineligibility of two years,” UKAD added.
However, UKAD said that since Helenius was provisionally suspended on Sept. 18, 2023, he has already served 10 months of his ban which will expire on Sept. 17, 2025.
-Reuters
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