Big welcome to Manny Pacquiao today

Newly crowned World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight champion Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao returns to another hero’s welcome today.

Thousands of Filipinos are expected to greet "The People’s Champion" on his arrival from San Francisco.

Pacquiao snared the WBC lightweight crown with a ninth-round knockout of Mexican-American David Diaz at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas last Sunday to become the first Asian to win four world crowns in four different weight divisions.

Pacquiao is the ninth boxer in recorded history to register this feat, joining Tommy "The Hitman" Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto "Hands of Stone" Duran, Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker, Leo Gamez, "Golden Boy’ Oscar de La Hoya, "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Roy Jones Jr.

Pacquiao is scheduled to attend Mass at the Quiapo Church after his arrival at the airport, then pay a courtesy call on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at 10:30 a.m. before proceeding to the Department of Environment and Naural Resources for a noontime meeting with Secretary Jose Atienza Jr., his longtime supporter and friend.

At the DENR, Pacquiao will face a press conference before leading a motorcade around the city that will start at 1:30 p.m.

As in his previous fights, people from all walks of life in the entire archipelago were glued to their television sets, gathering at public staging areas, or intently listening over the radio last Sunday to capture the blow-byblow account of the bout.

For the good part of last Sunday from morning to afternoon, major thoroughfares in the metropolis and other urban centers were free of traffic and the police reported zero crime activity in that span.

The bout turned out to be lopsidedly in favor of Pacquiao – his swiftness, stamina, and power very evident from the opening bell.

Pacquiao bloodied the corner of Diaz’s right eyebrow in the second round and continued to punish the Mexican-American in the ensuing rounds until Diaz went down head first in the ninth round for the Filipino’s knockout win.

At the end of the bout, Pacquiao was given the accolade as the best poundfor-pound fighter, garnering the adulation of even the members of the newly crowned National Basketball Association champions, the Boston Celtics.

Pacquiao, who befriended and won constant support from Secretary Atienza ever since he started his boxing career in 1995, got a rousing welcome from DENR employees when he went home after a hard-won rematch against Juan Manuel Marquez last March. During this DENR visit, Pacquiao announced his support for the conservation of the endangered Philippine Eagle.

Pacquiao first visited DENR in late 2007 after his victorious rematch over another Mexican, Erik Morales, who defeated him in their fight at the MGM Grand in 2005.

Apart from the Philippine Eagle, Pacquiao has also called for the conservation of the Bohol tarsier. He also formed a task force that will help the government monitor and prosecute environmental law violators.