Boxing superstar and future hall of famer Manny Pacquiao will be joining longtime World Boxing Council (WBC) President Mauricio Sulaiman in attendance for the first Pacquiao Elorde Awards Night on Sunday, March 24 at the Okada Manila. 

Pacquiao said the WBC — one of the major four boxing professional bodies along with the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Organization (WBO) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) — has a long and rich history with the Filipino people during its early years. 

“It’s really an honor that WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman will be joining us to be the guest speaker of the Pacquiao Elorde Awards Night this coming Sunday,” the 45-year-old Pacquiao said. 

“He is a really good role model, and his leadership is really well respected in the whole boxing world.”

“I’m very happy to be associated with the great Elorde in terms of recognizing and honoring our athletes.”

Pacquiao, the world’s only eight-division champion in different weight classes, won a variety of WBC championships for many years, beginning with the OPBF title in 1997.

Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, the country’s legendary boxer, has been considered by the WBC as its greatest super featherweight champion following his brilliant career when he held the super featherweight championship for seven long years from 1960 to 1967.

Speaking of history, Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions President Sean Gibbons said that Pacquiao knew the Philippines was one of the 11 founding countries of the WBC when it was created on February 14, 1963. 

“It’s a grand return to history, as the Philippines was one of the founding nations of the WBC and during the late 1960s until the early 1970s, Filipinos were then its president and secretary-general too,” Gibbons, also an international matchmaker, said.