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Sport

04th Jul 2015

Manny Pacquiao promises millions to first Filipino to win Olympic gold

JOE

In case you have been living under a rock for the past few months, Manny Pacquiao has a few quid to spare.

The Filipino boxer may have lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in ‘the fight of the century’, but he walked away with around $150 million (€135 million) for 36 minutes work, while Mayweather earned around $230 million (€207 million) for the fight.

If you missed the fight itself, here are the highlights.

money fight

Mayweather, judging by his social media accounts, is most likely to spend his money on himself, but Pacquaiao is promising to be a lot more generous with his pile of cash.

The boxer has promised to give 5 million Philippine pesos, (more than £70,000) to the first Filipino athlete to win gold at next summer’s Olympics in Rio.

A spectacularly sound gesture from Pacquiao, who said: “The pledge I, next year when you have gold (at the Olympics), five million no matter what sport.”

Pacquaio, who’s a senator in the country, made the announcement at the Philippine Sports Museum, after delivering sports memorabilia, and probably on his way to volunteer at a soup kitchen.

The country has never produced an Olympic gold medallist before, coming closest in 1964 when boxer Anthony Villanueva won silver, though their boxers have impressed at the South East Asian Games.

They have plenty of motivation to end the dry spell now.

H/T SPIN