Manny Means Business

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 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.

It seems the only time you’ve taken a real beating is when you went for public office.
It was not the right time to run for office because I was in my prime in boxing. [The Filipino people] are looking at me as a role model in boxing. The time has come now. I think they will want me because I have a big heart.

So politics is still in the cards?
Absolutely. I want to be a congressman. [The Filipino people] idolise me in boxing. I want them to idolise me in terms of public service. [I believe in] social accountability. I can change the system. I’m not like some politicians who can be corrupt. I have money and I am satisfied with what I have earned from bloody work like boxing. What I want to do is bring government money back to the poor people.

What do you think the Philippines needs the most?
Politicians with big hearts to help the people who are suffering.

Comparing your life from five years ago to right now, what has changed?
There is a very big difference. I make more money now, and I think I’m more popular now than before.

With popularity comes responsibility. Does that wear you down?
It’s not easy because you have to give your time to those people who support you – the fans I mean. They want to take photos with you, sign autographs. You have to give them the time. The other responsibility is to keep your feet on the ground.

How do you do that?
It’s very easy to get a big head. If you always pray and give thanks to God, your feet will still be on the ground. Without God, I will not be here and without the support of the people I am not Manny Pacquiao.

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.'’]

– Reader’s Digest (December, 2008)