Manny Pacquiao celebrates his 42nd birthday today. True boxing royalty, Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao was born into abject poverty. Today a global superstar, the warrior known as Pac Man is a true inspiration. Manny, who is as passionate about politics and in helping people who are as unfortunate as he once was, has a real shot of becoming president of the Philippines in 2022.
But Pacquiao’s boxing career is not over yet. For despite the fact that Manny had his first pro fight way, way back in 1995, and despite the fact that most fighters who were around as long and who logged up as many fights as Pac Man has (71) were long retired before turning 40, Pacquiao has more to offer. The amazing veteran did not box here in 2020, yet in his last two fights – wins over the much younger Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman – Pacquiao showed he still had awesome speed, great conditioning and a genuine thirst for combat.
We must now wait and see if Manny can still do it at age 42, and we could get two Pacquiao fights in 2021. This is his plan, as has been reported. Again, how many more wonderful ring performances has Pacquiao got left inside of him? When we look at the long, long list of great wins Pacquiao has to his name, it’s clear he will never again be the super-special fighter he was when he was busy defeating excellent fighters such as, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Sugar Shane Mosley and Tim Bradley.
Now that is some hugely impressive ring resume. When the time comes and he has finally retired, Pacquiao will be an absolute lock for The Hall of Fame, quite obviously. In fact, Manny has done enough to deserve to be enshrined three, four, maybe five times over. And yet he still wants to do more. There is no longer any hope of seeing a return fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, but there could be other big events Manny will feature in before he finally hangs ’em up.
Pacquiao has already won more than enough world titles to fill two trophy rooms but there could be more to come nonetheless. It could be that the final cement to Pacquiao’s legacy, to his long list of achievements, will come in the form of a substantial list of wins achieved at “old age.” There have been a few remarkable over-40 champions – legends Archie Moore, George Foreman and Bernard Hopkins being the old kings of the sport. Pacquiao was a dynamo as a younger man, the last time we saw him fight, at age 40, he was a speedy technician.
Pacquiao will look to put the finishing touches to his extraordinary ring career in 2021, and maybe beyond. We must cherish Pacquiao for as long as he’s still fighting. The world will perhaps never see anyone quite like him again.