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Light Flyweight and Flyweight
Pacquiao started his professional boxing career when he was just 16 years of age and weighed 106 pounds (light flyweight). His early fights took place in small local venues and were shown on Vintage Sports' Blow by Blow, an evening boxing show. His professional debut was a four round bout against Edmund "Enting" Ignacio, on January 22, 1995, which Pacquiao won via decision, becoming an instant star of the program. In 1994, the death of close friend Mark Penaflorida spurred the young Pacquiao to pursue a professional boxing career.
His weight increased from 106 to 113 pounds before losing in his 12th bout against Rustico Torrecampo via a third round knockout. Pacquiao had not made the weight, so he was forced to use heavier gloves than Torrecampo, thereby putting him at a disadvantage. Early in the third Pacquiao moved forwards into an overhand left from Torrecampo, flattening him instantly.
Shortly after the Torrecampo fight, Pacquiao settled at 112 pounds, winning the WBC World flyweight title (his first major boxing world title as well as the flyweight lineal title) over Chatchai Sasakul by way of knockout in the eighth round. However, Pacquiao lost the title in his second defense against Medgoen Singsurat, also known as Medgoen 3K Battery, via a third round knockout. The bout was held in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. Singsurat got Pacquiao on the ropes and landed a flush straight right to the body coiling Pacquiao over and keeping him there. Technically, Pacquiao lost the belt at the scales, as he surpassed the weight limit of 112 pounds.
Featherweight
On November 15, 2003, Pacquiao faced Marco Antonio Barrera at the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, in a fight that many consider to have defined his career. Pacquiao, who was moving up in weight and fighting at featherweight for the first time, brought his power with him and defeated Barrera via technical knockout in the eleventh round. Although this bout was not recognized as a title fight by any sanctioning bodies, after his victory Pacquiao was crowned Ring Magazine featherweight champion (as well as the lineal featherweight champion), and he held that title until relinquishing it in 2005.
Six months after Pacquiao's win over Mexican legend Barrera, Pacquiao went on to challenge another highly respected Mexican boxer in Juan Manuel Márquez, who at the time held both the World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) World featherweight titles. The fight took place at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, on May 8, 2004, and after twelve rounds the bout was scored a draw, which proved to be a controversial decision that outraged both camps.
In the first round Márquez was caught cold, as he was knocked down three times by a more lively Pacquiao. However, Márquez showed great heart to recover from the early knockdowns, and went on to win the majority of rounds thereafter. This was largely due to Márquez's counterpunch style, which he managed to effectively utilize against the aggressive style of Pacquiao. At the end of a very close fight, the final scores were 115–110 for Márquez, 115–110 for Pacquiao, and 113–113. One of the judges (who scored the bout 113–113) later admitted to making an error on the scorecards, because he had scored the first round as "10–7" in favor of Pacquiao instead of the standard "10–6" for a three-knockdown round. Consequently, both parties felt they had done enough to win the fight.
Super Featherweight
On March 19, 2005, Pacquiao once again moved up in weight class, from 126 to 130 pounds, in order to fight another Mexican legend and three-division world champion Érik Morales. The fight took place at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. However, this time around, in his first fight at super featherweight, Pacquiao lost the twelve round match by a unanimous decision from the judges. All three scorecards read 115-113 for Morales.
On September 10, 2005, Manny Pacquiao fought Héctor Velázquez at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. He knocked Velázquez out in six rounds to capture the WBC International super featherweight title, which he went on to defend five times. On the same day, his rival, Erik Morales, fought against Zahir Raheem. However, Morales fought a lackluster performance, losing to Raheem via unanimous decision.
The much anticipated rematch between Pacquiao and Morales happened on January 21, 2006, at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. During the fight, Morales escaped being knocked down twice, once during the second round by holding onto the ropes, and once in the sixth round by falling on the referee's body. Pacquiao eventually knocked Morales out in the tenth round, which was the first time Morales had been knocked out in his boxing career.
On July 2, 2006, Pacquiao successfully defended his WBC International super featherweight title against Óscar Larios, a two-time super bantamweight champion, who had moved up two weight divisions in order to challenge Pacquiao. Pacquiao won the fight via unanimous decision, knocking down Larios two times during the twelve round bout, which was held at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines. The three judges scored the fight at 117-110, 118-108, and 120-106, all in favor of Pacquiao.
Pacquiao and Morales fought for a third time (with the series tied 1-1) on November 18, 2006. Witnessed by a near record crowd of 18,276, the match saw Pacquiao defeating Morales via a third round knockout at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
After the Pacquiao–Morales rubber match, Bob Arum, Pacquiao's main promoter, announced that Manny had returned his signing bonus check back to Golden Boy Promotions, signaling intentions to stay with Top Rank. This resulted in Golden Boy Promotions' decision to sue Pacquiao over contractual breaches.
At the end of 2006, he was named by both HBO and Ring Magazine as the "Fighter of the Year", with HBO also naming him as the most exciting fighter of the year.
After a failed promotional negotiation with Marco Antonio Barrera's camp, Bob Arum chose Jorge Solís as Pacquiao's next opponent among several fighters that Arum offered him to fight as a replacement. The bout was held in San Antonio, Texas, on April 14, 2007. In the sixth round of the bout, an accidental headbutt occurred, giving Pacquiao a cut under his left eyebrow. The fight ended in the eighth round when Pacquiao knocked Solis down twice; Solis barely beat the count after the second knockdown, causing the referee to stop the fight and award Pacquiao the win via knockout. The victory raised Pacquiao's win–loss–draw record to 44–3–2, with 34 knockouts.
On June 29, 2007, it was announced that Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions agreed to settle their lawsuit, meaning the long-awaited rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera would occur despite Pacquiao being the number one contender for the super featherweight title of Juan Manuel Márquez. Pacquiao defeated Barrera in their rematch via an easy unanimous decision. In the eleventh round, Pacquiao's punch caused a deep cut below Barrera's right eye. Barrera retaliated with an illegal punch on the break that dazed Pacquiao but also caused the referee to deduct a point from Barrera. Two judges scored the bout 118–109, whereas the third scored it 115–112.
--Wikipedia
