Measured Against All Time: Manny Pacquiao

A deep dive into the career of the leading name on the current Hall of Fame ballot

On June 8, 2025, the International Boxing Hall of Fame will complete their annual weekend festivities by welcoming a new class of enshrinees. In the Modern category, a mandatory minimum of three will accept their place with the fistic immortals.

We don’t know yet who two of them will be.

Bet the house on the third.

The deadline for ballots passed on Halloween 2024. It’s safe to estimate almost all of the voters checked the same name first, likely without so much as a thought. Manny Pacquiao will be inducted. He’s the kind of athlete Hall of Fame’s exist to honor.

As fans await the official enshrinement of Pacquaio as part of the Hall of Fame, what better time to look back and ask:    

How good was the “Pac Man,” measured against all time?

Pacquiao’s career will be examined in five categories:

1. Accomplishments

2. Competition Faced

3. Competition Not Faced

4. Reaction to Adversity

5. What Did He Prove?    

Pacquiao’s career features more than two decades of astounding achievement. Before digging deeper, let’s kick it off with…

The Tale of the Tape

Born: December 17, 1978
Height: 5’5 ½     
Hailed From: General Santos City, Cotabato del Sur, Philippines 
Turned Professional: January 22, 1995 (UD4 Edmund Enting Ignacio)
Record: 62-8-2, 39 KO, 3 KOBY
Record in Title Fights: 21-5-2, 11 KO, 1 KOBY (including Lineal, Ring, or TBRB title Fights); 23-5-2, 12 KO, 1 KOBY (including WBA sub-title fights) 
Lineal World Titles: World Flyweight (1998-99, 1 Defense); World Featherweight (2003-05, 2 Defenses); World Jr. Lightweight (2008); World Jr. Welterweight (2009-10)
Title Reigns: WBC World Flyweight (1998-99, 1 Defense); IBF Super Bantamweight 2001-03, 4 Defenses); Ring World Featherweight (2003-05, 2 Defenses); Ring/WBC World Jr. Lightweight (2008); WBC Lightweight (2008-09); Ring World Jr. Welterweight (2009-10); WBC Super Welterweight (2010); WBO Welterweight, (2009-12, 3 Defenses; 2014-15, 1 Defense; 2016-17); TBRB Welterweight (2016; Retired); WBA Welterweight (2019-21)
Entered Ring Magazine Ratings: January 1999 (#1 – Flyweight; Cover Date - April 1999)
Last Ring Magazine Rating: September 2021 (#5 – Welterweight; Cover Date December 2021)  
Current/Former Lineal World Champions Faced: Chatchai Sasakul KO8; Medgoen Singsurat TKO by 3; Marco Antonio Barrera TKO11, UD12; Juan Manuel Marquez D12, SD12, MD12, KO by 6; Oscar De La Hoya RTD8; Ricky Hatton KO2; Miguel Cotto TKO12; Shane Mosley UD12; Floyd Mayweather L12
Current/Former Alphabet Titlists Faced: Lehlo Ledwaba TKO6; Agapito Sanchez Tech. Draw 6; Jorge Eliecer Julio TKO2; Erik Morales L12, TKO10, KO3; Oscar Larios UD12; Jorge Solis KO8; David Diaz TKO9; Joshua Clottey UD12; Antonio Margarito UD12; Timothy Bradley L12, UD12, UD12; Brandon Rios UD12; Chris Algieri UD12; Jesse Vargas UD12; Jeff Horn L12; Lucas Matthysse TKO7; Adrien Broner UD12; Keith Thurman SD12; Yordenis Ugas L12
Record Against Current/Former Champions/Titlists Faced: 26-7-2, 12 KO, 2 KOBY

Accomplishments

Pacquiao turned professional at just sixteen years of age, a pound over the strawweight limit, building a 23-1 record to earn a shot at WBC and lineal flyweight champion Chatchai Sasakul. Way down on the cards, the 19-year old Pacquiao won the title with an eighth round knockout in December 1998. He defended once before losing his title on the scales and being stopped in three in September of 1999 by Medgoen 3K-Battery.

Pacquiao immediately moved up ten pounds to Jr. featherweight, scoring six knockouts in a row to earn his second title shot. Matched with a streaking, favored Lehlo Ledwaba, Pacquiao’s U.S. debut in June 2001 was a successful one. Pacquiao won the IBF belt with a sixth-round stoppage. Pacquiao would defend that title four times, including a technical draw in a unification attempt versus WBO titlist Agapito Sanchez. His record at 122 pounds was a stellar 10-0-1 with 10 knockouts.

Pacquiao moved up to challenge lineal and Ring Magazine featherweight king Marco Antonio Barrera in November 2003. Pacquiao suffered an official knockdown in the first, returned the favor in the third, and stopped Barrera in the eleventh round of a shockingly one-sided contest. With the win, Pacquiao became the first fighter in boxing history to capture the lineal throne at both flyweight and featherweight.

Pacquiao would fight twice more at featherweight (both can be regarded as successful defenses of history’s 126 lb. crown) including a draw versus unified WBA/IBF titlist Juan Manuel Marquez in their first of four epic contests. Then, in 2005, Pacquiao moved up the scale again to tackle Jr. lightweight. A 6-1 run in the division, including a second win over Barrera and a series win versus Erik Morales. Pacquiao lost the first Morales fight via decision before stopping Morales twice, becoming the first man to stop the great “El Terrible.”

The Marquez rematch in March 2008 pitted the consensus top-two Jr. lightweights in the world against each other with the WBC and vacant Ring Magazine titles up for grabs. Pacquiao, with a knockdown in the third, secured a narrow split decision victory to end his time at Jr. lightweight. Many historians recognize this as his third lineal crown given the standing of both men in the division coming into the contest. 

A one-fight stop at lightweight secured the WBC belt in June 2008 before the fight that took him from star to megastar, a stoppage of Oscar De La Hoya in December 2008 that marked Pacquiao’s welterweight debut.

Pacquiao moved down the scale in May 2009 to challenge lineal and Ring Magazine Jr. welterweight champion Ricky Hatton. Two rounds later, Pacquiao was the first fighter in history to lay claim to lineal crowns in four weight divisions. 

Pacquiao would return to the welterweight division in November 2009, stopping Miguel Cotto in the final round to win the WBO belt. It was the division where he would spend all but one fight for the remainder of his career. In November 2003, Pacquiao faced former welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito to win a vacant WBC title at Jr. middleweight but he did not continue in the division. Pacquiao would defend the WBO belt three times before a controversial decision loss to Tim Bradley in June 2012. 

Pacquiao regained the belt in April 2014 in a rematch with Bradley and defended it once before losing in a unification fight with WBC/WBA and lineal welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather in May 2015 in the richest fight in boxing history. 

A point of contention can be found in Pacquiao’s next contest after the Mayweather loss. Did Pacquiao become the first fighter in history to lay claim to the lineal crown in five weight classes? Let’s explore the debate.

Mayweather retired after a final contest in the fall of 2015 versus Andre Berto, leaving history’s welterweight crown vacant. Pacquiao was matched with Bradley for a third time in April 2016, winning a decision. Some rankings, including TBRB and ESPN, ranked Pacquiao and Bradley as the top two in the division. Others, like Ring Magazine, did not with Kell Brook then ranked number one and Pacquiao and Bradley at second and fourth respectively. Pacquiao announced his retirement immediately after the third Bradley fight only to return later in the year. He won his third WBO belt at welterweight with a decision win over Jessie Vargas in November 2016 and lost it, controversially, via decision in his first defense versus Jeff Horn the following July. 

Neither Horn nor Crawford was recognized by any majority as the rightful lineal king, a sign that Pacquiao’s claim to a fifth historical crown never fully solidified. The claim is not recognized in this piece but the case for it is there for others to evaluate.

What was solidified even further was Pacquiao’s legend with one more memorable title win. At 39, Pacquaio challenged undefeated WBA titlist Keith Thurman in July 2019, dropping Thurman in the first en route to a split decision victory. It was just shy of twenty years since his first title victory over Sasakul. Pacquiao would fight only once more, losing the belt to Yordenis Ugas in August 2021. The one-time flyweight king ended his career with a mark of 13-5 in the welterweight division.

In total, Pacquiao won major sanctioning body titles in six weight classes (flyweight, Jr. featherweight, Jr. lightweight, welterweight, and Jr. middleweight) and lineal crowns in four (flyweight, featherweight, Jr. lightweight, and Jr. welterweight), marking title claims in eight weight classes in total.                     

Among outside the ring honors, Pacquiao was named as or in the following:

• Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year - 2006

• Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year - 2006

• Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year - 2008

• Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year - 2008

• BoxingScene Top 20 Jr. Lightweights All-Time #16 - 2009

• Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year - 2009

• ESPY Best Fighter - 2009

• Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year - 2009

• Ring Magazine Knockout of the Year - 2009

• Boxing Writers Association of America Joe Louis Fighter of the Decade - 2010

• Ring Magazine Fighter of the Decade - 2010

• Ring Magazine Event of the Year - 2010

• ESPY Best Fighter - 2011

• Ring Magazine Event of the Year - 2011

• Boxing Writers Association of America Fight of the Year - 2012

• Ring Magazine Fight of the Year - 2012

• Ring Magazine Knockout of the Year - 2012

• Ring Magazine Event of the Year - 2015

• Ring Magazine Greatest Living Fighters #9 - 2016

• International Boxing Research Organization All-Time Pound-for-Pound #25 - 2019

• International Boxing Research Organization All-Time Featherweight #19 - 2019

• International Boxing Research Organization All-Time Jr. Lightweight #8 - 2019

• International Boxing Research Organization All-Time Jr. Welterweight #13 - 2019

• International Boxing Research Organization All-Time Welterweight #20 - 2019

• Ring Magazine Top 100 Boxers in the History of the Ring Rankings #9 - 2021

Competition Faced

Using the Ring Magazine and TBRB rankings (after their establishment in 2012) as a reasonable gauge of Pacquiao’s professional years, the below are the men recognized as champions or ranked in the top ten when Pacquiao defeated them. The rankings provided for opponents represent the most recent in Ring’s print edition on the eve of a fight or available through the TBRB archives prior to Pacquiao facing them.  

• 12/04/1998 - KO8 Chatchai Sasakul (#2 at Flyweight)

• 09/17/1999 - TKO by 3 Medgoen Singsurat (Unrated at Flyweight)

• 06/23/2001 - TKO6 Lehlo Ledwaba (#2 at Jr. Featherweight)

• 11/10/2001 - Technical Draw 6 Agapito Sanchez (#10 at Jr. Featherweight)

• 11/15/2003 - TKO11 Marco Antonio Barrera (Featherweight Champion)

• 05/08/2004 - D12 Juan Manuel Marquez (#1 at Featherweight)

• 03/19/2005 - L12 Erik Morales (#2 at Jr. Lightweight)

• 01/21/2006 - TKO10 Erik Morales (#2 at Jr. Lightweight)

• 07/02/2006 - UD12 Oscar Larios (#2 at Jr. Featherweight)

• 11/18/2006 - KO3 Erik Morales (#3 at Jr. Lightweight)

• 04/14/2007 - KO8 Jorge Solis (#8 at Featherweight)

• 10/06/2007 - UD12 Marco Antonio Barrera (#3 at Jr. Lightweight)

• 03/15/2008 - SD12 Juan Manuel Marquez (#2 at Jr. Lightweight)

• 06/28/2008 - TKO9 David Diaz (#2 at Lightweight)

• 12/06/2008 - RTD8 Oscar De La Hoya (#3 at Jr. Middleweight)

• 05/02/2009 - KO2 Ricky Hatton (Champion at Jr. Welterweight)

• 11/14/2009 - TKO12 Miguel Cotto (#3 at Welterweight)

• 03/13/2010 - UD12 Joshua Clottey (#5 at Welterweight)

• 05/07/2011 - UD12 Shane Mosley (#4 at Welterweight)

• 11/12/2011 - MD12 Juan Manuel Marquez (Champion at Lightweight)

• 06/09/2012 - L12 Timothy Bradley (#1 at Jr. Welterweight)

• 12/08/2012 - KO by 6 Juan Manuel Marquez (Ring #4/TBRB #7 at Jr. Welterweight)

• 11/24/2013 - UD12 Brandon Rios (Ring #7/TBRB #6 at Jr. Welterweight) 

• 04/12/2014 - UD12 Timothy Bradley (Ring/TBRB #2 at Welterweight) 

• 11/23/2014 - UD12 Chris Algieri (Ring/TBRB #3 at Jr. Welterweight) 

• 05/02/2015 - L12 Floyd Mayweather (Ring Champion/TBRB #1 at Welterweight) 

• 04/09/2016 - UD12 Timothy Bradley (Ring #4/TBRB #2 at Welterweight) 

• 11/05/2016 - UD12 Jessie Vargas (Ring #8/TBRB #9 at Welterweight) 

• 07/02/2017 - L12 Jeff Horn (Unrated at Welterweight) 

• 07/15/2018 - TKO7 Lucas Matthysse (Ring #9/TBRB Unrated at Welterweight) 

• 01/19/2019 - UD12 Adrien Broner (Ring Unrated/TBRB #7 at Jr. Welterweight) 

• 07/20/2019 - SD12 Keith Thurman (Ring #3/TBRB #4 at Welterweight)

• 08/21/2021 - L12 Yordenis Ugas (Ring #6/TBRB #4 at Welterweight)

There are additional quality wins to be found on the Pacquiao ledger. Nedal Hussein was unrated by The Ring but undefeated and critical to Pacquiao’s rise to a title shot at junior featherweight. Antonio Margarito was a longtime former titlist at welterweight when Pacquiao faced him at a catchweight for a vacant junior middleweight belt. Pacquiao’s record featured 24 wins against ranked opponents.   

Competition Not Faced  

As always, this section is concerned with what did not occur, and not why it did not.

Moving through as many weight classes as Pacquiao did leaves plenty of room for quality opposition he might otherwise have faced. Here, the focus will just be on men who held titles in Pacquiao’s primary weight classes. Some of the names will stand out more than others during Pacquiao’s championship years between 1998 and 2021. Pacquiao spent only one fight apiece at lightweight, junior welterweight and junior middleweight so those divisions are excluded as are fighters who held titles but later faced Pacquiao in other weight classes, and those whose reigns only briefly overlapped with Pacquiao as he competed . 

The names are broken down by weight class and include:

Flyweight

• Mark Johnson (IBF)

• Hugo Soto (WBA)

• Leo Gamez (WBA)

Jr. Featherweight

• Willie Jorrin (WBC)

• Salim Medjkoune (WBA)

• Joan Guzman (WBO)

Featherweight

• In Jin Chi (WBC)

• Scott Harrison (WBO)

Jr. Lightweight 

• Vicente Mosquera (WBA)

• Edwin Valero (WBA)

• Jorge Barrios (WBO)

• Joan Guzman (WBO)

Welterweight

• Andre Berto (WBC)

• Danny Garcia (WBC)

• Shawn Porter (WBC/IBF)

• Errol Spence (WBC/IBF)

• Terence Crawford (WBO)

• Paulie Malignaggi (WBA)

• Devon Alexander (IBF)

• Kell Brook (IBF)

Also notable among opponents Pacquiao didn’t face is Joel Casamayor. When Pacquiao moved to lightweight for a single fight, he opted for David Diaz at a time when Casamayor was lineal king of the division. Pacquiao could have been the first fighter in history with lineal crowns in every division from featherweight to junior welterweight had he defeated Casamayor.  

Reaction to Adversity

Pacquiao wasn’t without bumps in the road throughout his career. He was stopped twice during his years at flyweight, both times leading to bigger things in his future. His first loss, a third round knockout versus Rustico Torrecampo in February 1996, could easily have been ruled a foul. Review of the film makes an argument for Pacquiao being hit with a headbutt to the face and low blow without a substantial punch being landed. Pacquiao shook it off with five wins before the year was out.

The same was true after Pacquiao, no longer able to make flyweight, was stopped with a body shot versus Medgoen 3K-Battery (a.k.a Medgoen Singsurat). He shook it off, moved where his body was demanding, and went on a run at Jr. featherweight. 

There was a moment at 122 pounds that could have derailed the Pacquiao legend before it ever got started. In the fight with Nedal Hussein in October 2000, Pacquiao was dropped and badly hurt by a Hussein jab in round four. There have been arguments, including from Hussein, about how referee Carlos Padilla handled the moment but Pacquiao’s ability to survive the round, his will to win, was on display. He moved, held, grappled, and marched on toward the Ledwaba fight that would change his career trajectory forever.

Pacquiao's next loss wouldn’t come until the first fight with Morales in a classic, bloody affair. While Pacquiao’s post-fight rationales, memorably pointing out problems with bad socks and blisters, earned a few laughs it was his technical adjustments in the aftermath that showed off a fighter maturing into his peak. Pacquiao, a dangerous but sometimes one-handed southpaw, took the lessons of the Morales fight and turned them into fuel to strengthen the use of his right hand. 

It was the final piece in developing him into the complete fighter he would be for the rest of his career.

Being complete didn’t mean unbeatable. Pacquiao’s 2012 campaign featured two defeats following a still debated late-2011 decision win over Marquez in their third fight. Most, but not all, consider the first Bradley fight to be a bad decision. The fourth fight with Marquez was the opposite, a win as decisive as can be. 

Pacquiao wasn’t just stopped by Marquez. He was knocked out cold. Given all he had accomplished, his age, and the violence of the finish, it wouldn’t have been surprising to see Pacquiao fade away. Many a normal fighter have done just that in similar circumstances. Pacquiao didn’t. He shook it off and resumed winning, fighting with a little more caution but never appearing afraid to put his nose in there. He added a second win over Bradley after the fourth Marquez fight and added a third win over Bradley and the Thurman win after the Mayweather defeat.

Pacquiao reacted to adversity by getting back to winning over and over again.       

What Did He Prove

In baseball, the great pitchers are the ones who can give up a home run, shrug, and come back throwing strikes. In boxing, the great ones can take a loss no matter how bad it looks and show it was just another day at the office. In his ability to shake off even days as bad as Marquez and return to winning, Pacquiao proved he had a level of mental toughness and professionalism that can be found in only truly elite athletes.

His ability to do it for so long put him in special company. He entered the Ring rankings for the first time in 1998 and exited for the last time in 2021, meaning he was considered one of the best fighters in the world in whatever division he was competing in during a piece of four different decades. Sure, part of that is an idiosyncrasy of timing, touching the very end of one decade and the very start of another.

That’s still a long time to stay hungry, stay competitive, and stay winning. That requires a level of passion for the craft that very few possess. 

With title fight knockouts in seven of the eight divisions where he won titles, he proved he was a rare combination of speed and power. Some made note of his lack of knockouts between 2009 and 2018, but even when fighters were finishing on their feet, they seldom stayed on them for all twelve rounds. 

Pacquiao dropped Shane Mosley, a feat rarely accomplished. He dropped Marquez in their fourth fight before a fateful finish, then-Jr. Welterweight titlist Chris Algieri six times, Bradley twice in their rubber match, Jessie Vargas, Lucas Matthysse, and Thurman. His timing, aggression, and execution remained proven throughout his career. 

And despite suffering a few stoppage losses, Pacquiao proved he had a dependable chin. He faced some big punchers in multiple weight classes. Only one beyond the flyweight limit was able to put him down and keep him there and it came in the form of as perfect a punch as one can find this side of Robinson-Fullmer.     

Measured Against History

Here we return to the opening question: how good was Manny Pacquiao, measured against all time?