As Manny Pacquiao and his family celebrated the new year, the 8-division world champion boxer and currently active Senator, just became the first fighter to hold a world title in four different decades.
On January 1, 2020 it marked a new decade, and Pacquiao is currently the WBA welterweight champion of the world – a title he won when he beat Keith Thurman on July 20, 2019.
Pacquiao turned pro in 1995 and won his first world title at the age of 19 on December 4, 1998 when he knocked out the lineal and WBC flyweight champion Chatchai Sasakul of Thailand in the 8th round.
In 2001, he would defeat South African champion Lehlohonolo Ledwaba for the IBF super bantamweight title, and win several more titles in different weight divisions in the decade.
In the 2010’s, he would claim the WBC junior middleweight title and also the WBO and WBA welterweight titles.
Now the 41-year-old Filipino ring king heads into another decade with another accomplishment – a four decade world champion and the first in boxing history to do so.
The longevity of the legendary Filipino southpaw is also something to behold. He has been in ring wars, been knocked out several times but somehow keeps getting back up to climb to the top of the ladder over and over again. He is like a cat with nine lives.
It is a shock to find out there are still those who don’t acknowledge the greatness of Pacquiao, or refuse to rank him higher on the all time greats list, but there is no denying that he has done so much for the sport in and out of the ring.
He is one of the most exciting fighters in boxing. He consistently comes to fights with an aggressive offense. He lives to entertain the fans and if the fights wind up boring it’s usually due to his opponent being defensive and just trying to survive so they don’t get hurt.
The Pac-Man is a special once in a generation type of fighter and with only a few more fights left in his career everyone should try and tune in to see this historic figure fight live before he finally hangs up the gloves and retires.
Congratulations to Manny ‘Pac-Man’ Pacquiao for being boxing’s only 8-divison world champion and first to hold world titles in four different decades.
Erwin Lastimosa is a long time boxing fan and enjoys boxing discussion with his peers. Some of his favorite fighters are Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Muhammad Ali, Flash Elorde, Mike Tyson and Manny Pacquiao.