5 Things You Didn’t Know About Manny Pacquiao

Just because boxer Manny Pacquiao isn’t a household name in North America doesn’t mean that he’s not popular elsewhere. As a matter of fact, Manny Pacquiao is one of the most popular people in the world.

He’s virtually a god in the Philippines, as he appears everywhere in Filipino pop culture, from the music scene to TV and movies. Manny Pacquiao is also known well in Mexico, as he’s left a graveyard of Mexican boxing greats in his trail -- enough to earn him the nickname “The Mexicutioner.”

As he continues to destroy everything in his path, it is beginning to look like Manny Pacquiao may not only be one of the best of his generation; he may in fact be one of the best of all time.

When Pacquiao knocked out Ricky Hatton in the second round of their fight on Saturday, May 2, he became the first boxer ever to win a lineal title in four lineal divisions.

Here is a list of five things you didn’t know about Manny Pacquiao:

5- Manny Pacquiao owns a basketball team

While Manny Pacquiao’s job is as a professional boxer, one of his favorite pastimes is to play basketball. As a matter of fact, his original dream was to be a professional basketball player.

Instead, the 5' 6.5" Manny Pacquiao settled for a legendary boxing career and now owns a basketball team on the side.

Pacquiao is the owner of the PacMan Gensan team of the Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association, which is based out of his hometown in General Santos City. They are now known as the MP Warriors of Gensan.

They haven’t been too shabby either, winning a championship in 2005 and finishing as runners-up in 2006.

Not to worry, though, Manny Pacquiao does not go the Mark Cuban route; he is quiet and humble, and just lets the right people run his team.

4- Manny Pacquiao is the only Filipino in Time 100

The Time 100 is an annual list of the most influential people in the world compiled by Time magazine. In 2009, Manny Pacquiao made the list.

To be included on this sort of list is quite the honor, no doubt, as only a handful of the world’s best thinkers, leaders and innovators make the cut.

The only Filipino to make the list in 2009, Manny Pacquiao is ranked No. 22 according to voting, which has him ahead of a few people you might know, such as Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey and the Dalai Lama.

More impressive might be the fact that he is one of the few athletes on the list, along with Kobe Bryant and Alex Rodriguez.

3- Manny Pacquiao owns a lottery outlet

Manny Pacquiao owns a lottery outlet for the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, but this isn’t just a regular lottery outlet. The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office is actually the charity arm of the government, which means that a lot of money that is made from the lottery is put to good use.

The money is often reinvested back into public services, such as health care and welfare, and it wouldn’t be as successful without Manny Pacquiao’s name attached to it.

This is just one of the many ways he gives back to his country via charity, as he has also established the Official Manny Pacquiao Foundation to support underprivileged individuals in the Philippines.

2- When Manny Pacquiao fights, the crime rate goes down

Wondering how popular Manny Pacquiao is? When he fights, the entire country watches -- literally.

The police in Manila say that crimes drop drastically during Manny Pacquiao’s fights, which means that even criminals stop their dirty work to watch.

There are also regular squabbles between communist insurgents and Muslim secessionists, but even they put their battles on ice to watch Pacquiao fight.

In simpler terms, nearly the entire country of roughly 90.5 million stops to watch the Pac-Man fight, which is simply astounding.

1- Manny Pacquiao earned less than $1 for his first fight

We’ve all heard stories about someone who goes from rags to riches, but Manny Pacquiao’s version is extreme.

Pacquiao’s family has spent a lot of time in poverty, and he did what he could to help early on in his life. Before he hit his teens, Pacquiao was selling doughnuts in the streets and he had his first fight when he was 12. After winning, Manny Pacquiao earned less than $1, which he immediately gave to his mother to buy rice.

As Manny Pacquiao gets set for his bout with Ricky Hatton, he is now the highest-paid prizefighter in the sport of boxing and he’s going to earn at least $12 million in guaranteed money. That could escalate even more based on the pay-per-view rake.

Now that’s a rags-to-riches story.