You cannot call yourself a diehard boxing fan if you are unfamiliar with Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. He is commonly known as “Pacman” and is considered as one of the greatest boxers of all time. If you’ll ask why, this is because he is the first and only eight-division world champion in the world. Pacman has received a lot of different awards from many famous boxing organizations and magazines in the world. The most notable awards are: “Fighter of the Decade” for the 2000s by BWAA, WBC and WBO; three-time Ring Magazine and BWAA “Fighter of the Year” in 2006, 2008 and 2009. Manny Pacquiao’s awards are pure proofs that he is already a living legend.

Do you think that you already knew a lot about Manny? I bet that you still don’t know these facts about him that I will enumerate below.

1. Manny Pacquiao wanted to be a priest when he was still a child but didn’t pursue it because of poverty. Instead, he pursued boxing.
2. Young Manny used to imitate the moves of Bruce Lee after watching one of his movies. He did this by punching and kicking a banana tree near his house.
3. He used to sell various goods when he was 13 in the streets of General Santos City.
4. The first boxing match that Manny watched on TV was the Douglas VS Tyson fight in Tokyo in 1990 which Tyson lost.
5. The first boxing area for the young Manny Pac quiao is the Oval Plaza Park where he used to do sparring sessions with the other kids around and some of those are way much bigger than him.
6. Manny Pacquaio is penniless when he first went to Manila that he just hitch a ride in a small boat to go there.
7. He had a very tough life in Manila that if he had nothing to eat, he would wash restaurant dishes in exchange for foods.
8. His first boxing trainer is Ben Delgado, a gym owner in Sampaloc.
9. Manny’s mother Dionesia Pacquiao used to be “labandera” or a laundrywoman that is why Manny sometimes miss school just to help her with her work.
10. He is very notable in Philippines that he has its own postage stamp dedicated to him.
11. Manny had to cheat about his age and weight to qualify for the Blow by Blow because that tournament requires 100 pounds weight and an 18 year old age limit.
12. As of now, Manny is providing educational scholarships to 250 children through his charitable foundation.
13. Manny first met his wife Jinkee in a mall in General Santos City working as a beauty consultant for skin care products. His friend Reynaldo Jamora was the one who introduced him to her.
14. Pacquiao currently have 5 children.
15. He started his professional boxing career at the age of 17.
16. Manny’s first loss in his professional boxing career was in 1996 to a fighter named Rustico Torrecampo. Some said that this was because of his penalty to meet the weight requirement before the fight so the officials gave him heavier gloves than his opponent.
17. He also starred in several films in Philippines.
18. He was ranked as the No. 11 World’s Highest Paid Athletes by Forbes in 2014 with $41.8 million.
19. Pacquiao also plays professional basketball in Philippines.
20. He is always carrying a bible on his trainings.