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Manny Pacquiao: Biography, Facts and Career

Who is Manny Pacquiao? An evergreen, sourced profile: biography, key facts and career.

By the Pop Culture Files editorial team4 min read✓ Fact-checked
Manny Pacquiao
Avito C. Dalan for the Philippine News Agency via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. ( PAK-ee-ow; locally [ˈmanɪ pɐkˈjaʊ]; born December 17, 1978) is a Filipino professional boxer and former politician. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time, becoming the only eight-division world champion in boxing history. He also served as a senator of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. Pacquiao has won twelve major world titles overall. He won the lineal championship in four different weight classes (flyweight, featherweight, super featherweight, light welterweight). Pacquiao is the first boxer to win major world titles in four of the eight "glamour divisions" (flyweight, featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight), and is the only boxer to hold world championships across four decades (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s). In July 2019, Pacquiao became the oldest welterweight world champion in history at the age of 40, and the first boxer in history to become a recognized four-time welterweight champion, after defeating Keith Thurman to win the WBA (Super) welterweight title. As of 2015, Pacquiao's fights had generated $1.2 billion in revenue from his 25 pay-per-view bouts. Forbes ranked him the second highest paid athlete in the world in 2012 and 2015, and the eighth highest paid athlete of the 2010s. In 2024, ESPN ranked Pacquiao as the greatest Asian athlete of the 21st century. In 2025, The Ring ranked Pacquiao second among the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of the 21st century. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the class of 2025. Pacquiao entered politics in 2010 when he was elected as the representative of Sarangani. He held this post for six years until he was elected and assumed office as a senator in 2016. He became the leader of the (at that time ruling) PDP–Laban party in 2020 (which is disputed since 2021). On September 19, 2021, Pacquiao officially declared his candidacy for President of the Philippines in the 2022 Philippine presidential election; he ended up losing to Bongbong Marcos. Following his unsuccessful campaign in the 2025 Senate election, he announced his intention to retire from politics and came out of retirement from boxing. Outside of boxing and politics, Pacquiao was the player-coach for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) team Kia/Mahindra for three seasons from 2014 to 2017, before founding the semi-professional Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. He has also starred in films and has presented television shows. In music, he has released multiple PARI-certified platinum albums and songs; his cover of "Sometimes When We Touch" peaked at 19 in the United States on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart after a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! He is an Evangelical Christian preacher, philanthropist, and entrepreneur.

Quick facts about Manny Pacquiao

  • Full name: Manny Pacquiao
  • Born: 1978-12-17
  • Nationality: Philippines
  • Known as: Musician
  • Wikidata ID: Q486359

Profile compiled from public Wikipedia and Wikidata data. Details can change over time.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Manny Pacquiao?

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr.

What nationality is Manny Pacquiao?

Manny Pacquiao is Philippines.

When was Manny Pacquiao born?

Manny Pacquiao was born on 1978-12-17.

Sources

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