By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Filipino living legend Manny Pacquiao was finally immortalized in boxing’s International Hall of Fame and received a proper ceremony on June 8, 2025, in Canastosa, New York.
Joined by his fellow inductees and some household names in the sport, boxing’s only eight-division world champion turned emotional after delivering his heartfelt speech in the middle of the podium.
“I came from nothing. Just a small boy from the streets of General Santos City, no shoes, no food, no chance, just a dream in my heart. I know hunger, I know pain, I know what it feels to be counted out,” Pacquiao said in his first few introductory lines.
At the age of 14, Pacquiao already began his search for boxing success after joining several boxing tournaments in hopes of sustaining his family’s needs.
Little did the world know that the young and enthusiastic boxer would dominate the sport, capturing his first-ever championship title in 1998 when he defeated Thailand’s Chatchai Sasakul for the World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight belt.
However, the biggest break in his professional boxing career came three years after when he stepped up as a late replacement against former International Boxing Federation (IBF) super bantamweight champion Lehlohonolo Ledwaba.
Despite accepting the title fight on two weeks’ notice, Pacquiao completed a stunning upset on Ledwaba after scoring a technical knockout victory to clinch his second major championship belt.
The Filipino boxing superstar capped off his illustrious career with several huge wins over Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales, Oscar Larios, Jorge Solis, David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley, Tim Bradley, Brandon Rios, Chris Algieri, Adrien Broner, and Keith Thurman.
He is the only man in boxing to win multiple belts in eight different divisions, welterweight, featherweight, junior welterweight, junior middleweight, junior featherweight, lightweight, flyweight, and junior lightweight.
“Boxing was only my way out. It turned my struggles into strengths, my failures into lessons, and my pain into purpose. From flyweight to junior middleweight, eight divisions,” Pacquiao added.
With another huge feat in his stellar boxing career, Pacquiao will join his former coach and trainer, Freddie Roach, after the legendary ringside tactician was inducted into the 2012 Class.
Currently, the duo is back in action, after Pacquiao unretired from the sport to face Mario Barrios on July 19, 2025, for a blockbuster welterweight fight to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“I never picked the easy fights. I chose the hard ones. I moved up weight after weight not to protect a record, but to test my limits. And now, when I look back, eight-division world champion, world titles in four different decades. Those are not just opinions, they are facts,” Pacquiao continued.
