Manny Means Business

Happy Pinoy is proud to feature our very own PACMAN.
Sharing with you his simple life then, his hardships and his perseverance to succeed, and his plans for the future for himself and his family. 


Champion boxer Manny Pacquiao has always had a business plan: Fight my way out of poverty

by Jim Plouffe

The first thing you notice when entering the dressing room of Manny Pacquiao is just how crowded it is. The room, right across the hall from where the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world has just finished taping his Filipino television show ''Pinoy Records'' is spartan, basically furnished with people. The next thing you notice is that the current World Boxing Council Lightweight Champion seems to get lost in this sea of people. His agents, family, handlers and just hangers-on, are all better dressed, louder and more domineering. It takes a few seconds to even pick him out.
It's not until Manny tells one of them to ''take the journalist to the other room'' and then saunters in a few minutes later, laying his hands – complete with several diamondd adorned fingers – on the grimy table that his presence is felt.


Here are the knuckles that have knocked out 35 opponents, including American David Diaz last June 2008 to win the Lightweight title. Here is the fearless dynamo, the Mexicutioner, the Destroyer, Pacman, the People's Champ, a man so wild in the ring that he's constantly had to move up weight classes just to find boxers who can endure his lightning-fast punches. This 169-centimetre-tall man is a weapon, and the sparkle in his eye reveals that he knows it.

But it's not until he tells one of his handlers to ''be quiet, I can speak for myself,'' that it becomes truly obvious that Manny Pacquiao really means business.

What do you do to relax?
My free time? This is my free time, working also. Playing darts, chess, golf and basketball, study.

Study?
Business management. I go to school Mondays to Fridays. I am a regular student at the Notre Dame of Dadiangas University.

How do you manage that?
The most important thing is discipline. To get your dream you need discipline.

Why Business Management?
Because I want my money to be in proper investments. I am the one who will manage it when I am not in boxing any more.

What subject do you like most?
My favourite subject is philosophy. It's part of my course, as well as algebra – which is very hard.

How do you balance all of this?
You have to give time for everything, especially your family. You have to give more time to your family. It comes to a point where you say, ''No, I am going home.'' There was a time when I played billiards and went to the casinos and cock fighting matches, but I stopped that because I realised I was not being a good role model to the people. [His handlers clap.]

How did your boxing career start?
I was 15 years old. I lived with my trainer [in Manila]. I worked in a tailoring shop. I worked during the day and trained at 5 pm. I learned to sew. I could make you a shirt! [Manny flicks his own tailored cuffs to show off his sinewy forearms.] I worked in construction as a painter and a welder, and sold flowers in front of the church every Sunday morning. That's how tough my life was.

I turned professional at 16. But the Games and Amusement Board didn't want to give me a licence because I was under-aged. So I faked it. I told them, ''Oh, I am 18 years old. I was 18 last December.'' Then the chairman said, ''Where's your birth certificate?'' So I told him it was in the province and that I will get my mother to send it to him. But I had a fight soon, so they gave [the licence] to me. I won my first 12 fights before I lost by KO. That was my first ever.

What did you think of that?
I went back to my work in construction and told a friend that I would stop boxing because I lost already. He said, ''No, that's part of boxing. You're a good fighter, that loss will give you a lesson in boxing.'' And I realised he was right, after a month, and I trained again.

What do you think boxing brings to the world?
Boxing helps you to discipline yourself, but it is very, very difficult. I think boxing is not only a sport but also a business. Right now I am a champion so my dream is already there. Now I am thinking about my family, about the future.

What would you say if one of your four kids wanted to box?
I don't want them to be boxers, even though I am a fighter, a champion. They don't see any gloves in my house or any boxing equipment. I don't bring them to see live fights because I don't want them to be boxers.

Why?
Boxing is very hard. I think it is a bloody sport.

What would you like them to be?
My plan is for them to be a doctor or lawyer. That's what we need in our lives, more doctors and lawyers. [Manny's wife, Maria Geraldine ''Jinkee'' Pacquiao, enters the room.]

So at home, who's the boss?
I'm the boss. [But Maria interjects, ''With my permission.'']

Reprinted from Reader's Digest December 2008