Pacquiao is 2015’s Asia Game Changer

NEW YORK – Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao was honored by the prestigious Asia Society as one of its 2015 Asian Game Changers for making a positive difference for the Asian region and its people at the United Nations headquarters Tuesday evening in New York.

“It is a big honor to my family and me, not only to my family but to our whole country and the Filipino people. This honor belongs to us because of their support,” said Pacquiao after receiving the award alongside nine other notable awardees whose contributions in their fields were honored by the organization.

They include Chinese telecommunications magnate Lei Jun; Indian/American comedian and actor Aasif Mandvi; Emirati fighter pilot Mariam al-Mansouri; Japanese inventors and 2014 Nobel Prize winners Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura; Chanda Kochhar, the CEO of Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India and Li Cunxin, the artistic director of the Queensland Ballet.

“It’s a very prestigious award that I have right now,” Pacquiao said in his speech, as posted in an article at Philboxing.com.

Pacquiao rose to global stardom as a result of his sensational performances in the ring. And as a global sports icon, Pacquiao utilized his star presence to increase awareness on social issues such as human trafficking, poverty and the plight of his countrymen during calamities.

This desire to help others stems from his past, growing up poor in General Santos City before he became a wealthy boxer.

“I experienced the life that you never experienced. I experienced the life that sometimes we have food, sometimes none. I experienced a life that we don’t have shelter. I tried to sleep in the street. That was my life. In my success in life, I will never forget my past when I was young and that is why I am turning back and helping them,” Pacquiao narrated.

Pacquiao was introduced to the audience by another global sports icon, tennis great John McEnroe, in Tuesday’s awards dinner.

“I was fortunate enough to meet Nelson Mandela, and one of the things he said to me was that sports have the potential to change the world, and Manny Pacquiao is one of the individuals who can do that,” McEnroe remarked.

Pacquiao encouraged the audience to battle and reduce poverty, even briefly touching on the refugee crisis in the Middle East.

“If you really have love in your heart, show it in action by helping and having compassion to those people who need help. Keep on fighting poverty and reduce poverty and helping our brothers and sisters in the Middle East who are suffering because of the war there.”

It’s a first for the 36-year-old congressman from Sarangani province, and the only boxer in history to win world titles in eight different weight classes.

Pacquiao, the most exciting fighter of this generation, flew to New York Sunday evening to receive the award.

He’s given the award much importance, being the first Filipino to be named Asia Society’s Game Changer.

“It makes me seem like a sort of super hero. We all know in reality that I’m not. I am but a man blessed by God who has answered his call to make a difference in people’s lives,” said Pacquiao.

As a boxing superstar who came from humble beginnings, Pacquiao has provided great hope to Filipinos, especially those who struggle in their everyday lives. – With Abac Cordero