Word: champion
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...budget. "All those who are around me are the bridge to my success, so they are all important," he says. He helps pay for the education of some of his younger relatives. He even gave a few hundred dollars to Rolando Navarrete, a once famous boxing champion from his hometown who squandered his talent and ended up in jail for a few years on a rape charge. Sitting in the kitchen of his apartment surrounded by a coterie of relatives, Pacquiao seems happy and at ease, joking with his brother-in-law and teasing another family member for losing...
...bought her. She leaves little doubt who her favorite child is: "He is like a Xerox copy of me," she says. The resemblance is as much mental as physical. "If I had been a man, I would have been a millionaire because I would have been a champion boxer," she adds...
...Instead, Pacquiao fled GenSan at age 14 by stowing away on a ship bound for Manila. He had no friends, no money and one goal: "I wanted to be a world champion," Pacquiao recalls. Supporting himself as a construction worker, he gained local renown quickly on the amateur and pro-boxing circuit as a powerful puncher with little discipline and less fear. "There was hardly any science in his fighting," says Rudy Salud, a Manila-based boxing manager and former secretary-general of the World Boxing Council (WBC). "He fought like a mad dog. He was rather wild...
...brilliant as Pacquiao's win over Barrera was, it's still just one night. To achieve lasting greatness, he'll have to repeat moments like that again and again. He could start on May 8, when he goes up against International Boxing Federation and WBC featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, a tough, powerful counterpuncher. Though ranked as boxing's top featherweight, Pacquiao holds no title belts in the division - beating Marquez would make him the official champ and quiet any doubters who feel the Barrera fight was a one-off. Some question Pacquiao's readiness, however, whereas Marquez has apparently...
...maturity since the victory over Barrera. "There's been a huge change in his personality," says journalist Trinidad. "He now has serenity. Before, it was very hard to talk to him. He was not that secure. Now he seems so serene. It's the gift of a real champion...