August 18, 2021 3:55 pm ET
Manny Pacquiao has fought in 11 of the 17 weight divisions in his 26-year professional career. He has won world titles in eight of them, an all-time record that has made him a legend.
The Filipino dynamo has a winning record in all 11 weight classes, from 108 to 154 pounds, although he fought only once in three of them.
Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) has fought more times in his current division – welterweight – than in any other, having gone to war at 147 pounds in 17 of his 71 bouts. He’ll face titleholder Yordenis Ugas at welterweight on Saturday in Las Vegas (pay per view).
But in which division did he have his most success?
Boxing Junkie did the research to answer that question. In this special feature, we rank Pacquiao’s success by weight class. We start with No. 11 and work our way up to the division in which we believe he had his most success.
Note: We used Pacquiao’s weight to determine the division in each of his fights, with one exception: He weighed under the welterweight limit when he fought Antonio Margarito for a 154-pound title. That counts as a junior middleweight bout.
Also, he won sanctioning body titles in six divisions, Ring Magazine belts in the other two.
Have a look.
11
BANTAMWEIGHT (118 pounds)
Record: 2-0 (2 KOs)
Years: 1996-99
Titles: None
Significant victories: None
Losses / draws: None
Background: Pacquiao passed quickly through the bantamweight division, fighting only two journeyman – Bert Batiller and Todd Makelim – three years apart. His next stop was junior featherweight, where he would settle in for a while.
Notable: Pacquiao’s fight against Batiller is the only one in his career that took place in his hometown, General Santos City.
10
JUNIOR FLYWEIGHT (108 pounds)
Record: 5-0 (1 KO)
Years: 1995
Titles: None
Significant victories: None
Losses / draws: None
Background: Pacquiao turned professional as a 16-year-old in 1995, making his debut at junior flyweight – he weighed 106 — against fellow Filipino Edmund Enting Ignacio in Sablayan, Philippines. He won by a four-round decision. He would go on to fight four more times at the weight, all in 1995. He would go 10-0 (4 KOs) at various weights in four-, six- and eight-round bouts that year. His professional career was off and running.
Notable: Pacquiao was moved quickly; he fought his first scheduled eight-rounder in only his sixth fight.
9
JUNIOR BANTAMWEIGHT (115 pounds)
Record: 8-0 (6 KOs)
Years: 1996-99
Titles: None
Significant victories: None
Losses / draws: None
Background: Pacquiao fought eight times as a junior bantamweight but faced no notable opponents and never fought for a title. One thing that stands out is his six knockouts in eight fights. He was not only unusually quick and athletic; he had established himself as a murderous puncher, which enhanced his growing local popularity.
Notable: He fought Shin Terao in Tokyo at junior bantamweight, his first fight outside the Philippines.
8
FLYWEIGHT (112 pounds)
Record: 11-2 (8 KOs)
Years: 1995-99
Titles: WBC (1998-99)
Significant victories: Chatchai Sasakul
Losses / draws: Rustico Torrecampo (L), Boonsai Sangurat (L)
Background: Pacquiao would experience his first setback and win his first world title at 112 pounds. The teenager had already gained considerable attention because of his all-around ability in Filipino boxing circles when he was stopped in 1996 by journeyman Rustico Torrecampo, who was allowed to wear six-ounce gloves (Pacquaio wore eight-ounce gloves) because his unbeaten opponent came in above the agreed-upon weight. The loser bounced back to win 12 consecutive fights and earn a shot at Thai Chatchai Sasakul’s 112-pound title in December 1998, when he was still 19. He won by an eighth-round knockout to become a world champion and then lost his title on the scale nine months later against Boonsai Sangurat, who knocked out a depleted Pacquiao in three rounds.
Notable: Torrecampo reportedly became a fugitive after he was accused of murder and his whereabouts are unknown.
7
LIGHTWEIGHT (135 pounds)
Record: 1-0 (1 KO)
Year: 2008
Titles: WBC (2008-09)
Significant victories: David Diaz
Losses / draws: None
Background: Pacquiao fought only once at 135 pounds but the outing was an important one. He stopped rugged, but overmatched David Diaz in nine rounds to take Diaz’s WBC belt in June 2008. The victory kicked off arguably the greatest stretch of his career, in which he knocked out in succession Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto in three different weight classes. He was never better than he was around the time he fought Diaz.
Notable: Diaz went 2-2 after the Pacquiao fight and then retired.
6
JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT (154 pounds)
Record: 1-0 (0 KOs)
Year: 2010
Titles: WBC (2010-11)
Significant victories: Antonio Margarito
Background: Pacquiao, seeking a title in one more division, took a risk by challenging the much bigger Antonio Margarito at a catch weight of 150 pounds and it paid off, as he won a one-sided decision and a 154-pound belt in November 2010 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. He was too fast and too good for the strong, but plodding Mexican, who took a severe beating and suffered an eye injury that cut his career short.
Notable: Pacquiao weighed under the welterweight limit, coming in at 144½. Margarito weighed 150.
5
JUNIOR WELTERWEIGHT (140 pounds)
Record: 1-0 (1 KO)
Years: 2009
Titles: The Ring Magazine (2009)
Significant victories: Ricky Hatton
Losses / draws: None
Background: Another one-fight stopover produced arguably his most-memorable victory. Ricky Hatton had lost to Floyd Mayweather by a 10th-round knockout in 2007 but he remained one of the most-respected fighters in and around the division. And Pacquiao ate him up, putting him down twice in Round 1 and ended the fight with a chilling left hand that rendered the tough Englishman instantaneously unconscious. The epic knockout led many to begin speaking of Pacquiao in reverent terms. Some even compared him to Henry Armstrong, the all-time great who held three world titles simultaneously. And Pacquiao was just getting started.
Notable: Pacquiao has only two knockouts after he stopped Hatton.
4
FEATHERWEIGHT (126 pounds)
Record: 3-0-1 (3 KOs)
Years: 2003-04
Titles: The Ring Magazine (2003-04)
Significant victories: Marco Antonio Barrera
Losses / draws: Juan Manuel Marquez (D)
Background: Pacquiao was a featherweight for a short time but made a strong impression. It was in that division that he recorded his first victory over a true star, an 11th-round knockout of Hall of Famer Marco Antonio Barrera to win The Ring Magazine title in November 2003. His next fight didn’t go as well. He put Juan Manuel Marquez down three times in the opening round only to draw with his greatest rival. Those fights initiated Pacquiao’s unforgettable series of meetings with the great Mexicans Barrrera, Marquez and Erik Morales, against whom Pacquiao would finish 6-2-1. He would move up in weight in 2005.
Noteable: Going into the Pacquiao fight, Barrera had beaten in succession Naseem Hamed, Enrique Sanchez, Erik Morales, Johnny Tapia and Kevin Kelley.
3
JUNIOR FEATHERWEIGHT (122 pounds)
Record: 10-0-1 (10 KOs)
Years: 1999-2003
Titles: IBF (2001-04)
Significant victories: Lehlo Ledwaba, Jorge Julio, Emmanuel Lucero
Losses / draws: Agapito Sanchez (D)
Background: Pacquiao arrived on the international scene at 122 pounds. He had begun to work with trainer Freddie Roach when, a day before he planned to return to the Philippines, he received an offer to fight titleholder Lehlo Ledwaba on the Oscar De La Hoya-Javier Castillejo card in June 2001 in Las Vegas. The rest is history. The unknown Filipino overwhelmed the favored Ledwaba, stopping him in six rounds to win his second world title and seize the attention of boxing fans worldwide. That was his first fight in the U.S., where most of subsequent outings would take place.
Notable: All 10 of Pacquiao’s victory came by KO.
2
WELTERWEIGHT (147 pounds)
Record: 13-4 (3 KOs)
Years: 2008-present
Titles: WBO (2009-12), WBO (2014-15), WBO (2016-17), WBA (2018-19), WBA (2019-21)
Significant victories: Oscar De La Hoya, Joshua Clottey, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Tim Bradley (twice), Adrien Broner, Keith Thurman
Losses / draws: Bradley, Marquez, Floyd Mayweather, Jeff Horn
Background: An irony is that Pacquiao crossed into superstardom at an unnatural weight, 147 pounds. His eighth-round knockout of Oscar De La Hoya in 2008 wasn’t his most-impressive victory because De La Hoya was in decline but the passing-of-the-torch fight – from the face of boxing to its next great icon – lifted Pacquiao to the absolute pinnacle of the sport. And he has remained in the division, save for one foray at junior middleweight. He has had his ups and downs (including a one-punch KO loss to Marquez) at welterweight but has a string of victories over current or future Hall of Famers and four stints as champion. He underscored his greatness by outpointing Keith Thurman at 40. A victory over Ugas would make him a five-time 147-pound champ.
Notable: Pacquiao earned his biggest payday – $100 million-plus – in his unanimous-decision loss to Floyd Mayweather in 2015.
1
JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHT (130 pounds)
Record: 7-1 (5 KOs)
Years: 2005-08
Titles: WBC (2008)
Significant victories: Erik Morales (twice), Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar Larios, Jorge Solis
Losses / draws: Morales (L)
Background: Pacquiao got off to a slow start at 130 pounds, losing a close, but unanimous decision to Erik Morales in a non-title fight in March 2005. That was his only setback since the loss to Boonsai Sangsurat at flyweight in 1999 and Tim Bradley’s controversial victory over him in 2012, a span of nearly 13 years. Of course, he would bounce back. He stopped Morales in the rematch in January 2006 and won their third fight by stoppage later that year, after which he defeated Marco Antonio Barrera a second time. He then defeated Juan Manuel Marquez by a split decision to take Marquez WBC title. He never defended his belt.
Notable: Pacquiao fought only twice between 130 and 147 pounds, his victories over David Diaz and Ricky Hatton.
