Tracing Manny Pacquiao’s Path to Boxing Superstardom

Before he represented his province in Congress, before he had his first hit single, and before he headlined his first boxing pay-per-view, Manny Pacquiao was a mere mortal just like the rest of us. There were no autograph seekers and no desperately poor seeking his salvation. There were no private planes and no public service.

There was nothing but hope and the kind of dream that is all too often dashed in the face of harsh reality.

Pacquiao is not supposed to occupy this rarefied air. This is the territory typically controlled by Olympians and those groomed for success and carefully matched by a team of promoters and trainers.

Pacquiao is not that fighter.

Desperately poor as a kid, living in a one room house with a family of seven, he survived his teen years by fighting. Brought to America for the first time as a mere opponent for a now forgotten champion, Pacquiao captured the imagination of a fanbase that was waiting for someone just like him to appear.

“Never had a clue,” Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach told Yahoo’s Kevin Iole. “Never expected this. Never. Not in my wildest dreams.”

The path between poverty and prosperity was fraught with danger and obstacles. To reach his potential he had to navigate eight weight classes and some of the best fighters in the world.

Today every fight is an event. He matters, not just in his native Philippines—but globally. These are the five fights that got him there, the ones that turned a mere boxer into an icon.