- The Philippines boxing icon attends ceremony at the University of Makati on Wednesday
- The eight-times division champion could face American Mickey Garcia next summer
Manny Pacquiao has schooled many fighters as a master of the sweet science of boxing, but on Wednesday he showed he's a scientist of another kind after graduating from university.
The Philippines boxing icon and senator of the nation that adores the eight-time division champion graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in political science (major in local government administration) attained from the University of Makati.
Senator Manny Pacquiao walks up the stage and formally receives his diploma for Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Pacquiao is a product of the University of Makati SAP JJ @ABSCBNNews @ANCALERTS pic.twitter.com/nMhdHlmY1y
" sherrie ann torres (@sherieanntorres) December 11, 2019
Pacquiao, who turns 41 on December 17, was all smiles as he sat in his chair wearing his robe during a graduating ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.
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The welterweight legend had enrolled in Notre Dame of Dadiangas University in his hometown of General Santos City under its business management programme in 2008 but it's the first time "Pacman" has graduated with a fully fledged degree that will augur well in his political ambitions of one day leading the Philippines nation as a possible future president.
Senator @MannyPacquiao to graduate on December 11- Wednesday. Pacquiao will be armed with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science degree from the University of Makati SAP JJ @ABSCBNNews @ANCALERTS pic.twitter.com/DV13posg17
" sherrie ann torres (@sherieanntorres) December 9, 2019
His name was clearly on the list of graduates made public on Monday. He graduated under the name of Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao.
In September, Pacquiao proudly shared his university ID on Instagram, where he told his millions of fans that he was a "proud student of the University of Makati". He captioned the photo with the words that read "Never stop learning because life never stops teaching".
View this post on Instagram
Never stop learning because life never stops teaching.
A post shared by Manny Pacquiao (@mannypacquiao) on Sep 6, 2019 at 4:04am PDT
Earlier in a TV interview, the man who fought the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Ricky Hatton, said he planned to continue his studies, and would pursue a master's degree at Harvard University in the United States one day.
With his university degree in the bag, Pacquiao can now focus on his next fight, and it could be against Mexican-American Mickey Garcia, who told the US media that he was "very close" to signing a deal to fight Pacquiao next summer.
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Pacquiao fought twice in 2018 " against Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman " and Garcia is confident that he could get a piece of the action against the Filipino great even though he faces stiff competition from namesake Danny Garcia, who is also a possible opponent for the fighting senator.
"(Next year) will be huge. I expect a big, active year for me " two, three times," Garcia, 31, told Fighthype. "And I really want to get a lot of action next year, and I want to get big fights. I want to get fights that people are excited for, and want to watch.
"We've been discussing a fight against Manny Pacquiao for a long time now, and it seems like it's very close and it can actually happen. Nothing is secure. He has some political obligations right now. He's still busy with that, but the last thing I heard, he's interested in fighting in the early part of the summer. There's still no opponent secured. That's why I want to jump in and try and get that fight."
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