Pacquiao, Manny (Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao), 1978–, Phillipine boxer and politician, b. Mindanao. From his first professional win at age 16 he has gone on to win world titles in eight different weight divisions. His first title was the World Boxing Council (WBC) and world flyweight title (1998–99), followed by the International Boxing Federation junior featherweight title (2001–3), The Ring magazine and world featherweight title (2003–5), the WBC, The Ring, and world junior lightweight title (2008), the WBC lightweight title (2008–9), The Ring and world junior welterweight title (2009–10), the World Boxing Organization welterweight title (2009–12, 2014–15, 2016–17), and the WBC light middleweight title (2010–11). In 2015 he lost a much-publicized welterweight fight against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (2015) by unanimous but disputed decision. In 2016, after winning the world welterweight title, he retired with 58 wins (38 by knockout), 6 losses, and 2 draws, but soon decided to return to the ring. He lost the title the following year to Jeff Horn, in another unanimous but disputed decision. He won the the World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight title in 2018; the knockout was his 60th win. He has since successfully defended the title twice (2019). Pacquiao entered politics in 2007 with an unsuccesful bid for election as a representative in the Philippine congress, then formed (2009) the People's Champ Movement and won a seat in 2010; he was reelected in 2013. In 2016 he was elected to the Philippine senate, where he has been a close ally of President Duterte.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Sports: Biographies
