Manny Pacquiao has lived a varied life outside of the ring and now the former eight division world champion has announced he has been promoted to the role of colonel in the Philippines Army.
The 38-year-old Filipino, who is an army reserve and previously held the role of lieutenant colonel, posted a series of pictures yesterday on Instagram in his army fatigues.
“Today, I successfully defended my commandant’s paper to be promoted to a full Colonel,” Pacquiao stated
Pacquiao, who is a senator in the Philippines, lost his WBO world welterweight title in a shock defeat to undefeated Australian Jeff Horn in July before a crowd of over 51,000 at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
Pacquiao has been very busy as of late.
BoxingScene.com reported a few days ago that Pacquiao inked a comprehensive agreement to develop and promote professional boxing in China.
Dancing Sports president Vincent Zhou and Pacquiao signed the agreement in an elaborate ceremony on December 2 at the Diaoyutai Hotel in Beijing which was attended by Chinese dignitaries and representatives from the Chinese media.
Part of the agreement was the establishment of the Manny Pacquiao International Boxing Academy (PIBA) in China envisioned to become an instrument to attract, train and develop Chinese world class boxers and to regularly promote professional boxing matches all over China.
“This agreement of course will definitely shower a new boxing era in our sports and will contribute to help realize our great potential in boxing,” Zhou said.
Pacquiao, who was in Bejing from Dec. 1 to 3 to also attend the Chinese Communist Party's 'World Political Parties Dialogue' said:
“Yesterday, I met with President Xi and Prime Minister Li Keqiang, and I am glad that the high level relationship between China and the Philippines is going further. President Xi's Belt and Road initiative is very important, it will help countries along exchanges and cooperation at all levels across borders. It is not difficult to see that the signing of this comprehensive agreement is exactly the implementation of the two top leadership initiatives of China and an important action to promote cooperation between China and the Philippines.”