Pacquiao, was a poor man from Saranggani, was abandoned by his father, along with his five siblings and mother.
At a very young age of 14, he went into amateur boxing to earn a living. Then at 16, he was into professional boxing.
His accomplishments:(sourced from en.wikipedia)
- He is the first and only eight-division world champion,in which he has won ten world titles, as well as the first to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes. According to Forbes, he was the 14th highest paid athlete in the world as of 2013.
- He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 2000s (decade) by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA), World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO). He is also a three-time The Ring and BWAA "Fighter of the Year," winning the award in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and the Best Fighter ESPY Award in 2009 and 2011.
- He is the current WBO welterweight champion and is currently ranked number four on The Ring pound-for-pound list.
- He was long rated as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world by some sporting news and boxing websites, including ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Sporting Life, Yahoo! Sports, About.com, BoxRec and The Ring from his climb to Lightweight until his losses in 2012.
- Beyond boxing, Pacquiao has participated in basketball, business, acting, music recording and politics. In May 2010, Pacquiao was elected to the House of Representatives in the 15th Congress of the Philippines, representing the province of Sarangani. He was re-elected in 2013 to the 16th Congress of the Philippines.,
- Pacquiao, is the head coach of the basketball team Kia Sorentos.
- He is a military reservist with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserve Force of the Philippine Army.
- Pacquiao was conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humanities (Honoris Causa) by Southwestern University (SWU) in recognition of his boxing achievements and humanitarian work.
Manny, who was raised a Catholic, admitted to being a gambler, womanizer, and other vices was not careful with his words. But he had a transformation when he was a reborn Christian, having a personal relationship with God, doing His will and not his own will.
During his interview at 700 Club Asia, he quoted Matthew 7:21
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven".I consider this his greatest accomplishment, his being reborn with the Holy Spirit and reaching to the lost. Bravo, Manny Pacquiao!
