Filipino boxing champion Sen. Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao has been included in this year’s edition of ESPN World Fame 100.
Pacquiao ranked 63rd in the said list which features some of the world’s most prominent athletes in the world of sports.
He is one of the six boxers in the list, along with the following: Floyd Mayweather, 14th; Anthony Joshua, 46th; Canelo Álvarez, 58th; Gennady Golovkin, 61st; and Wladimir Klitschko, 74th.
The boxing icon-turned-politician was also included in last year’s list wherein he ranked 59th.
“We thought we’d never see another weight-division-hopping dynamo like Henry Armstrong, until the PacMan came along,” Dotun Akintoye was quoted in ESPN’s website.
“But despite his wealth, a hit list that spans most of the greatest fighters of his era, a political career, and the fact that he has lost four of his past nine bouts, Pacquiao, in the fashion of a true ring legend, is still intent on fighting,” Akintoye added.
ESPN based their list on the athlete’s Google trend score, number of social media followers, and net worth in terms of endorsements.
Portuguese Football star Cristiano Ronaldo topped the list with a search score of 100, $40 million worth of endorsements, and 121.7 million followers on social media.
Other athletes on the top ten are NBA player LeBron James, Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi, Brazilian soccer player Neymar, Swiss tennis player Roger Federer, American golfer Tiger Woods, NBA player Kevin Durant, Spanish tennis player Roger Nadal, NBA player Stephen Curry, and American golfer Phil Mickelson.
Pacquiao is currently preparing for his upcoming bout with Argentine boxer Lucas Matthysse. It will happen on July 14 at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Roger Nadal?