Filipino legend pricks up gloves for Paris

The composition of the participants of the Olympic Games in Paris, which will take place next year, may be replenished with one of the most curious characters in the history of the Olympic Games. Filipino Manny Pacquiao, a world boxing legend, decided to participate in it. Pacquiao, who has achieved tremendous success in professional boxing, but has never fought in major tournaments in amateur boxing, can only be prevented from fulfilling his dream by the age limit: fighters no older than 40 years old are allowed to the Olympics, and he will soon turn 45. However, there is an opportunity to bypass the restrictions thanks to special quotas held by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The fact that Manny Pacquiao is going to take part in the next summer Olympics, said the President of the Olympic Committee of the Philippines Abraham Tolentino. His statement said that the “ring idol” “wants to fight in Paris”. Pacquiao himself spoke about this earlier. This is an extraordinary event. Professional boxers were allowed to compete at the Olympics in the middle of the last decade, and their debut took place in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Moreover, they have already won Olympic medals. For example, the only gold in boxing in Tokyo in 2021 for the Russian team was brought by Albert Batyrgaziev, who by that time had already fought professional fights. But, as a rule, young fighters without a bright track record still used the reform of the regulations. Top boxers, on the other hand, do not yet show much interest in the Olympics, which they most often already had in their lives before the transition from amateurs to professionals.

Manny Pacquiao is not just a top boxer. He is a true legend, a boxing icon. The Filipino is the only one in history who managed to win champion titles in as many as eight weight categories, from the lightest (up to 50.1 kg) to welterweight (66.7 kg).

Pacquiao was repeatedly recognized as the best boxer of the year by the most prestigious versions like The Ring version, and his popularity with the fans reached colossal proportions.

Its material expression can be considered the commercial results of the fight of the Filipino athlete in 2015 against the outstanding American Floyd Mayweather, who lost to Pacquiao on points. It caused an unprecedented stir (4.6 million pay-per-view purchases) and provided the organizers, according to a number of sources, with revenues in the amount of more than $500 million. This record in boxing has not been broken so far.

But in fact, Manny Pacquiao ended his sports career back in 2021, losing to Yordenis Ugas. In addition, even before this loss, she had not been his absolute priority for quite a long time: Pacquiao combined boxing with active political activity in his homeland, and in 2022 he even ran for the presidency of the Philippines, taking third place in the voting.

At the same time, it was no secret to anyone that Manny Pacquiao was very sorry that he did not have a chance to compete at the Olympics.

The fact is that he switched to professionals at the age of 16, with meager experience in amateur tournaments behind him due to financial difficulties in the family. And the fact that the Olympic idea is extremely close to the Filipino is proved by one episode from his life. In 2008, Pacquiao gladly accepted the role of flag bearer for the Philippine delegation at the opening of the Olympics in Beijing, despite the fact that before him such an honor was entrusted exclusively to the participants of the Olympic Games.

In 2016, after the admission of professionals, Manny Pacquiao was prevented from being in Rio de Janeiro by work in the political sphere, and in 2021 in Tokyo by regulations. The division of the IOC, which organizes boxing Olympic tournaments, instead of the International Boxing Association (IBA), deprived of the head sports structure of recognition, has established an age limit for participants. They must be at least 19 and no older than 40. Actually, he does not allow Pacquiao to speak now, even in the qualifying competitions.

But there is a way around the obstacle. The Olympic Committee of the Philippines will ask to allow Manny Pacquiao on a special quota – in the regulations it is called universality place. Such quotas, eliminating the need to qualify for the Olympics on a par with competitors and fall under various limits, are allocated for each type. There are nine of them in boxing, however, only four – in the men’s tournament.

Alexey Dospekhov