Manila: Manny Pacquiao, a world pound-for-pound champ and the first boxer in history to win major world titles in four of the original eight weight boxing divisions, is winning hearts of school leavers here.
Pacquiao — now a member of the Philippine Senate — is back in college, taking a bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Makati in the financial capital of Manila.
The evidence: His college ID. Pacquiao, the first boxer in history to win major world titles in four of the original eight weight boxing divisions, posted his college ID card on social media on Friday, which has
“Never stop learning because life never stops teaching,” Pacquiao posted on Instagram, which featured his school ID card.
Pacquiao has competed in professional boxing since 1995 and is regarded by many boxing historians as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time.
To Pacquiao’s post, social media follower @j.a.i.1979, wrote: “Boxing World champion, preacher, singer, actor, basketball player, congressman, senator. This is a true renaissance man.”
Another comment, made by Instagram user @jojo.megajoule, states: “That's why you're the champ! Knowledge is the real fortune, some people are so poor that all they have is money.”
Education requirement
Pacquiao previously revealed that he would soon get a college degree in a TV interview about his stand on requiring senatorial and presidential bids to be college graduates.
Pacquiao was earlier enrolled in the business management program of Notre Dame of Dadiangas University in his hometown, General Santos City.
He did not complete the course. Pacquiao was given an honorary doctorate degree in humanities by the Southwestern University in Cebu City, back in 2009.
The senator-boxer earned his high school diploma in 2007, after passing the accreditation and equivalency test under the Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System.
Pacman is the first boxer in history to win the lineal championship in five different weight divisions, as well as being the first boxer in history to win major world titles in four of the original eight weight divisions of boxing, also known as the "glamour divisions": flyweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.
In July 2019, Pacquiao became the oldest welterweight world champion in the history of boxing after defeating Keith Thurman to win the WBA (Super) welterweight title at the age of 40.
Pacquiao was long rated as the best active boxer in the world, pound-for-pound, by most sporting news and boxing websites, including ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Sporting Life, Yahoo! Sports, About.com, BoxRec and The Ring, beginning from his climb to lightweight until his losses at welterweight in 2012.
He is also the longest reigning top-ten active boxer on The Ring's pound-for-pound list.
Pacquiao has generated approximately 20.1 million in pay-per-view (PPV) buys and $1.2 billion in revenue from his 25 PPV bouts.
According to Forbes, he was the second-highest paid athlete in the world in 2015.
