Manny Pacquiao’s weekend itinerary reads like boxing mythology in real time. On Saturday night the eight-division icon marched into Turning Stone’s Banquet of Champions to “Eye of the Tiger,” accepted Hall-of-Fame immortality beside Roy Jones Jr. and Felix Trinidad, then slipped quietly back to his hotel room - because a world-title training regimen waits for no red-carpet celebration.
From the podium Pacquiao gave the 600-seat ballroom a reminder of how far he has travelled: from selling newspapers on the streets of General Santos City to sharing museum space with Ali and Robinson. “This is the fruit of hard work and discipline,” he told the crowd, adding that his 2003 demolition of Marco Antonio Barrera remains the night he felt his life change forever.
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Yet the 46-year-old isn’t ready to leave headlines to the history books. On July 19 he meets WBC welterweight titlist Mario Barrios at the MGM Grand, aiming to break his own record as boxing’s oldest 147-pound champion. The moment Sunday’s induction parade rolls through downtown Canastota, Pacquiao will board a plane for Los Angeles and the grind of Wild Card Gym - proof that even a Hall-of-Famer still answers the bell.
Not that nerves are absent; they belong to the next generation. Pacquiao admits his anxiety revolves around son Emmanuel Jr., slated for a pro debut on the Barrios under-card. “I feel nervous for my son, but in my fight I don’t,” he said with a grin that suggested the competitive fire remains undiminished.
How long this encore lasts is anyone’s guess, Pacquiao included. For now the plan is simple: add another belt, inspire another wave of Filipino dreamers, and trust that destiny has room for one more extraordinary chapter in a career already framed in bronze.
Image Credit: PBC