"The unbelievable thing about Manny is that he agreed to fight for so little money, and everybody told him, 'No, no, no, no!' He said, 'No, I fight because I'm going to be a champion and a star in this country.' It was just a fantastic story. I mean, it's his story; it's not mine. But I give kudos for him for just having that vision...it's just the intensity of his study was just phenomenal compared to the other boxers. He just never let up. He just wanted it. He was that hungry," stated attorney Sydney Hall, who recalled the early years of Manny Pacquiao's career, long before he would become the 8-division world champion that we know today.
Hall first met the Pride of the Philippines when Pacquiao was still a teenager, but it didn't take him long to recognize the undiscovered talent. After two years of knowing the young and hungy champion, Hall made the decision to bring Pacquiao to the United States to help him fulfill his dreams. Check out what else he had to say as Hall discusses the steps that led Pacquiao to Freddie Roach and eventual fame.
Sydney Hall on Manny Pacquiao:
The unbelievable thing about Manny is that he agreed to fight for so little money, and everybody told him, 'No, no, no, no!' He said, 'No, I fight because I'm going to be a champion and a star in this country.' It was just a fantastic story. I mean, it's his story; it's not mine. But I give kudos for him for just having that vision.
The first time I saw him fight? When he asked me to come over and see him fight. As I mentioned, I went to this gym and he was there and it was about 120 degrees in there; I mean rats, cockroaches running around, and I mean, it was so hot in there, the mirrors had fogged up. And so I was watching him and he said, "Look, watch me," and he just kept going, you know, fighting and he was sparring, and then all of a sudden, he looked back at me and the guy hit him, boop, and he went down. And he got up and he was kind of embarrassed, but I could see he could fight, so I said it's just a matter...he was still a little bit too young to bring to the United States, so I waited another 2 years before he came over.
I rented a house for him [in San Francisco] and he came there and he stayed in the house and he was just quiet. Funny thing was that we'd have like about 6 boxers, so I'd come over to the house and they'd all be in the front gambling, playing card games and stuff, and I'd go, "Where's Manny?" And they'd say, "Oh, he's in the back." And so I'd go in the back and he was watching boxing film; old film, new film, just film all the time, and I left that house that day and I said, "This guy is going to become a world champion." Because it's just the intensity of his study was just phenomenal compared to the other boxers. He just never let up. He just wanted it. He was that hungry.
We couldn't find a trainer. We didn't have a good trainer. There was basically no trainer up there [in San Francisco] at the time.
There was a guy named Elorde who had a fighter down here [in Los Angeles] who was working out at the Wild Card gym, and Manny came down and met Freddie and then Freddie, I guess Freddie said, "Wow, I'd love to train you," and they agreed Freddie would be the trainer for that particular fight.
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