Manny Pacquiao has become more than a boxing superstar. President Obama is a fan of his, inviting him to the White House and tuning into his upcoming fight.
When President Obama is a fan of yours and says he’ll be buying your Showtime PPV match on May 7 against Shane Mosley you know you have made it to the top of sports superstardom. Manny Pacquiao, the current king of boxing, not to mention Filipino Congressman, visited with President Obama at the White House last week.
The way Pacquiao’s Cinderella story is unfolding his next visit to the White House may be as the President of Philippines. As it is now, Pacquiao is the most popular and beloved Filipino in the world, and will leave boxing as one of those rare stars who transcended the sport. Manny Pacquiao: Big things come in small packages
We all know the saying, “Big things come in small packages.” Well, Manny Pacquiao may be the ultimate proof. He is magical in the ring and beautiful to watch like a small meteoric mass that leaves people in awe as it lights up the sky. We feel lucky whenever we see a shooting star and never in the history of boxing have we seen such a small meteor provide such a bright, brilliant path.
Pacquiao is climbing up the list as one of the most famous and revered athletes in the world. The Filipino wrecking machine is a sensation who has won titles in eight different divisions and the first to ever win ten titles in eight weight classes. Not to mention the feat of becoming a Filipino congressman in the process. He is a God-like figure in the Philippines and by far the most successful athlete the nation has ever produced. General Santos City is where Manny Pacquiao began
His career began in obscurity with a child-like physique with no one looking at him as anymore than a tough street kid from General Santos City with a hard work ethic. Pacquiao started his professional boxing career when he was just 16 years of age, standing 4′ 11″ and weighing 98 pounds (7 pounds under the minimumweight division). He had to put weights in his pockets just to make the minimum 105-pound weight limit. Pacquiao is small in stature, but a Superman
Since that uncertain beginning, Pacquiao has won world titles from the flyweight to the super welterweight division and become a hero to his Filipino people in the process. Leveling out at just over 5′ 6″, Pacquiao is the most well mannered, ordinary looking and physically unimposing superman that I’ve ever seen. That, though, is part of his genius and what stands him a part from other megastar athletes who generally dwarf him in size. NBA players and Manny Pacquiao
One could argue that professional basketball has produced legendary undersized athletes who were even more remarkable because of the height disadvantage they faced. Take former NBA player Spud Webb, who at 5′ 7″ was the shortest person to compete in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest and won the event in 1986 by defeating his teammate and defending dunk champion Dominique Wilkins.
No one in the world could do what Webb did, dazzling the NBA world with highlight reel dunks including the elevator two-handed double pump dunk, the one-handed off the backboard one-handed jam, a 360-degree helicopter one-handed dunk, a 180-degree reverse double-pump slam, and the 180-degree reverse two-handed jam from a lob bounce off the floor.
Or how about the 5′ 3″ Mugsy Bogues, drafted twelfth in the 1987 NBA Draft, and the shortest ever to play in the league who once blocked a shot by the 7 foot plus New York Knicks center, Patrick Ewing. His 14-season career as point guard in the NBA remains one of the most remarkable accomplishments in professional sports considering he was literally playing against giant men. President Obama is a Manny Pacquiao fan
Despite the superhuman talent of Webb and Bogues, and the accolades they achieved, neither could jump high enough to reach Manny Pacquiao’s worldwide stardom. He has joined a historic group of fighters whose fame transcended the sport of boxing including the likes of Benny Leonard, Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Oscar De La Hoya, and Mike Tyson.
More than just boxing champions, these athletes rose to global celebrities and captivated millions of people who had never listened to or watched a boxing match in their lives. President Obama is the latest president to follow boxing star
Manny Pacquiao is forever on this list whether or not he loses to Shane Mosley or Floyd Mayweather Jr. (a fight that may never happen) or any other fighter. His greatness cannot be erased and when President Obama tunes in on May 7 he will become the latest of American presidents to follow a boxer.
What may be most telling though is that, unlike the legends before him whose fistic brilliance roused the leader of the free world, Pacquiao has done it as a foreigner. He is a true phenomenon, the likes of which we will never see again.
