MANNY Pacquiao looked back with pride on how his legendary boxing journey brought him from the streets of General Santos to the bright lights of Las Vegas.
And it isn't over just yet.
The 46-year-old Filipino great was finally inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on Monday (Manila time) following a career that saw him ascend as one of the greatest fighters of all time and the only one in history to win a record eigth titles in eight different divisions.
“When I look back, eight division world champion, world titles in four different decades, oldest weltwerweight world champion in history. Those are not just opinions. They are facts,” said Pacquiao during his seven-minute speech after he was finally enshrined in the Hall of Fame as head of the Class of 2025.
READ Pacquiao just fourth Filipino to be enshrined into Boxing Hall of Fame
“Some people asked, ‘Who is the greatest of all time?’ That’s not for me to decide. It belongs to the fans, it belongs to history.”
The enshrinement highlighted a special four-day event in Canastota, New York attended by some of boxing’s legendary fighters such as Roy Jones, Felix Trinidad, Erik Morales, and renowned promoter Bob Arum.
Among the fighters inducted alongside Pacquiao were former junior middleweight champion Vinny ‘The Pazmanian Devil’ Paz and ex-middlewight and super-middleweight title holder Michael Nunn in the men’s modern category, and Yessica Chavez, Anne Sophie Mathis, and Mary Jo Sanders in the women’s modern category.
Pacquiao began his boxing career as a 16-year-old in 1995 who travelled to Manila two years earlier in a bid to provide a better life for his family in General Santos City.
A southpaw, he wasn’t exactly a technical fighter, but was oozing with speed and power, coupled by his devil-may-care attitude in the ring.
He won the first of his eight world title belts as a flyweight in 1998, only to lose the crown in his second title defense less than a year later after failing to make weight.
But his career took a major twist when his former manager Rod Nazario brought him to Los Angeles and ended up at the doors of the Wild Card gym in Hollywood under American trainer Freddie Roach.
Under Roach, Pacquiao developed into a complete package and rose to boxing superstardom who took on the likes of fellow Hall of Famers Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar Dela Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Ricky Hatton, Tim Bradley, Antonio Margarito, and of course, Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Along the way, he reigned as champions at super bantamweight, featherweight, super-featherweight, lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight, and junior middleweight.
“From flyweight to junior middleweight, eight divisions,” noted Pacquiao, who has a ring record of 62-8-2 with 39 KOs. “Every fight, every victory was step further from poverty. It was not just for me, but for my family, for the Filipino people.”
“I chose the hard ones, I moved up from weight to weight, not to protect a record, but to test my abilities.”
A decade after, his unification fight against the undefeated Mayweather remained as the highest grossing boxing bout ever in history.
The legendary Filipino appeared teary eyed when he mentioned and thanked his family, wife Jinkee and children Jimuel, Michael, Princess, Quennie, and Israel, who he referred to as ‘his heart.’
Pacquiao also expressed his gratitude to the Filipino people and the boxing fans all over the world for the love, prayer, and support all these years.
Not to be forgotten was Roach, Filipino trainer Buboy Fernandez, and strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune, who was with Pacquiao until his final fight against Yordenis Ugas four years ago for the WBA welterweight championship before he decided to retire.
Four weeks from now though, the quartet will be back again in boxing’s biggest stage as Pacquiao challenges Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight crown in his comeback fight.
Oddly, Pacquiao opted not to mention anything about the fight during the Hall of Fame ceremony that celebrated his past career and not the fight he’s about to embark on.
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