From Destroyer to Legend: The Evolution of Manny Pacquiao

By Fernando Jose - He used to be called “The Destroyer”, and rightfully so. ‘Cause as a dynamic 23 year old fighting in the super bantamweight division, destroying the opposition was the only thing running through Pacquiao’s mind whenever he was in the ring. At that time, the skinny southpaw from the Philippines had very little regard for defense and never seemed to care about winning or losing rounds. He was focused on one single goal which was to annihilate the opposition. Though always wild and reckless, he was just too powerful and too aggressive that no one could completely capitalize on his flaws. Manny “The Destroyer” was indeed a very exciting fighter. With sheer violence, he managed to become a two-time world champion. But he wasn’t really what you would call a “great” fighter. Well at least, not yet.

When he decided to move up to 126 and fight Ring featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera, Pacquiao was a 4-1 underdog. He defied the odds and beat who was then the third best pound for pound fighter in the world—and that he did in a dominant fashion. Pacquiao threw rapid punches from so many different angles that even Barrera, the great defensive fighter that he was, couldn’t do anything to protect himself.. Pacquiao was quite unorthodox and visibly one dimensional, but he was very successful nonetheless in giving Barrera the worst beating of his life. Beating Barrera who was considered the lineal champ made Pacquiao the man at the featherweight division. After that career-making fight, expectations went sky high for the Filipino.

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Pacquiao to pursue P500M hotel in GSC

By Bong S. Sarmiento

GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- How about a "Pacman" hotel?
World boxing superstar Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao is seriously pursuing a career as an investor, revealing late Tuesday night, after playing basketball, his plan to build a P500 million hotel here.


Pacquiao's bid to build a classy hotel comes on top of a recent announcement that he too will develop a multi-million dollar integrated special economic zone also in this city, a locality home to many who've made millions from the tuna industry.
"The hotel will be constructed near the heart of the city. The blueprint of the project is already underway," he said in a phone interview.
From a poor family, Pacquiao rose to fame after beating several famous fighters in different weight classes, including Oscar "The Golden Boy" dela Hoya.

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Manny Pacquiao accepts Fighter of the Year award

Manny Pacquiao accepts his Fighter of the Year award at the Boxing Writers Association of America dinner in New York. In the photo above, he is joined by trainer Freddie Roach, his wife, promoter Bob Arum and BWAA president Jack Hirsch. Below, he poses with Joe Calzaghe, who won the Manager of the Year award. Photos by Gary D. Morgan. 

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Top-paid athletes: Pacman ranks 6th

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao made it to Forbes magazine’s list of highest-paid athletes in the world, tying for the sixth spot with basketball phenom Lebron James and golfer Phil Mickelson.
According to Forbes, Pacquiao is the highest-ranking among four of the list’s new entrants, raking in a total of $40 million in the past 12 months. The boxing star is among the eight non-Americans on the list, which had golf icon Tiger Woods ($110 million) at the top.
“Pac-Man hogged the boxing spotlight over the past year with victories in two blockbuster fights against Oscar De La Hoya in December and Ricky Hatton in May that combined for more than $100 million in pay-per-view revenue in the US,” Forbes said in a brief write-up.
“The two blockbuster fights garnered more than 2 million pay-per-view buys in the US and earned Pac-Man $30 million combined.”

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Delusional anxiety: Pacquiao's vocabulary expands

Useful words in boxing and politics: anxiety and delusional

There are those in boxing who see the Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao fight as an indication of what promoter Bob Arum plans for the remainder of the Pinoy Idol's career.
Many think that Arum, with the possible exception of the huge showdown fight against Floyd Mayweather, will try to keep Pacman bout as Top Rank in house affairs. Cotto, for example, is a Top Rank chattel who has or had a contract due to expire at the end of this year.
I asked Arum about that at a New York press conference and he said it is all poppycock.
"No, I will seek the maximum paydays for Manny no matter who handles the opponent," Arum said. "Golden Boy gets paid under our out of court settlement arrangement any way.
"If Manny fights a Golden Boy fighter, then Golden Boy gets 20 percent of my company's share of the profits from that bout. If Manny's opponent is not a Golden Boy boxer, then they get 25 percent of the profits we make.

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Manny Pacquiao the source of creative inspiration

Manny Pacquiao inspires works of art. And I received some great poetic feats, a couple of them epic, about the Filipino boxing icon, ahead of his contest with Ricky Hatton.

It has come down to deciding between the best three, and I cannot split them.  Here they are. I have also sent them off to Freddie Roach for his judgement, but I’d like to know which you think is best. (Be kind to the three writers/poets, please!)

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Manny Pacquiao Likely Favorite to Win ESPY Award as Best Fighter

Carrie Stroup here reporting for Gambling911.com with some quick boxing news.  We have it on good authority that Sportsbook.com plans to offer betting odds on the ESPN Espy Awards, which are handed out to the top sports figures of the past year.  This year's big favorite to win "Best Fighter" is expected to be Philippine boxing sensation, Manny Pacquiao.  Odds have yet to be released but he is likely to be contending with a few UFC fighters.
From ESPN.com:
The impressive hustle of MMAJunkie has unearthed some pleasant news for fans looking for a mainstream pat on the back: Both Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva are up for ESPN's ESPY Award this year in the "Best Fighter" category.

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Pacquiao earns 2 ESPY award nominations

MANILA, Philippines – Boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao again established his global popularity after being nominated in two major categories for the 2009 Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards or ESPY.

Nominees for the annual event organized by famed American cable television network ESPN had already been announced, and Pacquiao is among the prominent athletes in the list of the top personalities in the world of sports.

Pacquiao had been nominated twice – in the “Best Fighter" and “Best Play" categories.

The nomination came in the heels of Pacquiao’s earlier achievements as one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time Magazine and as a member of the richest athletes in the world today according to Forbes magazine.

The Filipino boxing idol’s brutal second round knockout of Briton Ricky Hatton last May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas made it to the “Best Play’ category, where also vying for honor are Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin’s goal opposite the New York Rangers during Game 5 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Santonio Holmes’ winning catch in the Super Bowl XLIII and Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree’s game-winning catch against Texas.

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