Manny Pacquiao

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao (born December 17, 1978), simply known as Manny Pacquiao is a Filipino professional boxer. He was born in Kibawe, Bukidnon, Mindanao and resides in his home town General Santos City, Philippines.He is currently the WBC Lightweight Champion. He was also the former WBC Super Featherweight Champion, Ring Magazine's super featherweight and featherweight champion, world champion at IBF Super Bantamweight, and WBC Flyweight divisions. Manny is the first Filipino and Asian boxer to win four world titles in different weight divisions. He took over as the Ring Magazine pound for pound number 1 ranked boxer in the world on June 9, 2008 after Floyd Mayweather, Jr. announced his retirement from boxing.

Manny Pacquiao started his professional boxing career in 1995 at 106 lbs (Light flyweight) at the age of 16. His early fights usually took place in small venues and were shown on Vintage Sports' Blow by Blow, an evening boxing show. Pacquiao enjoys frequenting his local KFC together with friend Jonathan Adizas where he always says extra ketchup please. known in the local philipine community as the ketchup enthusiast. His professional debut was a 4-round bout against Edmund Enting Ignacio on January 22, 1995, which Pacquiao won via decision, becoming an instant star of the program. Close friend Mark Penaflorida's death in 1994 spurred young Pacquiao to pursue a professional career.

His weight increased from 106 to 113 lbs before losing in his 12th bout against Rustico Torrecampo via a third-round knockout (KO). As sportscaster Joaquin "Quinito" Henson observed, Pacquiao had not made weight. So he was forced to use heavier gloves than Torrecampo, thereby putting Pacquiao at a disadvantage.

Shortly after the Torrecampo fight, Pacquiao settled at 112 lbs, winning the WBC Flyweight title over Chatchai Sasakul in the eighth round only to lose it in his second defense against Medgoen Singsurat, or Medgoen 3K Battery, via a third-round knockout on a bout held at Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. Technically, Pacquiao lost the belt at the scales by surpassing the required weight of 112 lbs (51 kg).

Following his loss to Singsurat, Pacquiao gained weight anew, this time stopping at the superbantamweight division of 122 lbs (55 kg), where he picked up the WBC International Super Bantamweight title, defending it five times before his next world title fight came.

Pacquiao's big break came on June 23, 2001, against IBF Super Bantamweight champion Lehlohonolo Ledwaba. Pacquiao stepped into the fight as a late replacement and won the fight by technical knockout to become the IBF Super Bantamweight champion on a bout held at MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada. He defended this title eight times and fought to a sixth-round draw against Agapito Sanchez in a bout that was stopped early after Pacquiao received a headbutt.

His parents are Rosalio and Dionisia Pacquiao. His brother Bobby Pacquiao is also a boxer. He is married to Maria Geraldine "Jinkee" Pacquiao with 3 children: PJ Hoffy, Bebot and Christian. His wife Jinkee is pregnant with another female child.

Pacquiao is scheduled to face Oscar De La Hoya on Saturday, December 6, 2008 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank, Inc., the bout will be a 12-round, non-title fight contested at the 147-pound welterweight limit. Although Pacquiao goes into the fight widely recognized as the leading pound-for-pound boxer in the world, some boxing pundits have speculated that 147 pounds could be too far above his natural weight against the larger De La Hoya.

Many boxing analysts believe the fight will favor De La Hoya, and consider the fight a mismatch due to De La Hoya's size advantage. Bets have already been taken with De La Hoya as the heavy favourite. Training for the mega fight Oscar hired legendary trainers Angelo Dundee, Nacho Beristain, and young boxing talent Edwin Valero. Oscar told the news that his team is unbeatable, while Freddie Roach said, "No one is going to be able to help Oscar pull the trigger when he faces Manny Pacquiao on Dec. 6". While the odds are still with Oscar the mega fight will be still fight of the year and possibly break pay per view records in boxing history.

Pacquiao will receive $15 to 30 million (share of the pay-per-view), plus a guaranteed amount.

Tickets reportedly sold out just hours after they went on sale. The total gate revenues were said to be nearly $17 million dollars. That amount would give the bout has the second largest gate revenue in boxing history (after the De La Hoya-Mayweather Jr. fight in May 5, 2007 which generated $18.4 million in gate revenue).