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From ESPN:
Long before Manny Pacquiao became one of boxing's most exciting and celebrated exponents, he was a young teenager struggling to survive on the streets of Manila, a memory which has motivated him and steadied his focus over recent weeks.
Amid all the adulation he enjoys back home in the Philippines -- not to mention the adoring crowds he can draw to the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood on a daily basis -- it can become easy to forget how the journey began and what kind of sacrifices he had to make.
At times, Pacquiao freely admits he has forgotten those years of struggle.
He went through the motions in preparation for fights last year against Jorge Solis and Marco Antonio Barrera; neither performance was reflective of the Pacquiao whom the boxing world has come to know and cherish.
Instinctively, Pacquiao knew that it was time to re-acquaint himself with the boy who landed in Manila from his home in Bukidnon, Philippines, without relatives and just a boxing trainer, Alberto Mang Eleng, who offered him lodgings.
In order to support himself, Pacquiao needed a job.
"I worked as a tailor, so I know how to make boxing trunks and school uniforms," he reflected after a tough session in the Wild Card gym with trainer Freddie Roach. Both men laughed at the prospect of Pacquiao putting his tailoring skills to use again on his robe and trunks for this weekend's rematch against Juan Manuel Marquez.
"I can smile and joke about it now, but my life has been a struggle sometimes and there has been a lot of sacrifice. I worked as a baker back in Bukidnon so that I could put bread on the table for my family. In Manila, I was on my own and I had to work to survive.
Pacquiao is aware of that fact that many fight fans know who he is today but don't necessarily know how he got there.
Has Pacquiao learned to deal with the distractions that come with being a superstar fighter?
"This is the part of my story that people don't always remember, when I worked in construction and laid down steel in buildings, painted houses and sewed clothes in a factory. During that time, I [also] trained to be a fighter. Sometimes I have to remind myself [where I came from]."
When a pair of unconvincing performances in 2007 hinted at decline, Pacquiao realized that the remedy would come from revisiting his past. His problem was not that his skills were diminishing. It was simply his desire.
"For my last couple of fights, I was not hungry enough and this showed," he explained. "They were not good performances. But my inspiration in this training camp has been the life I lived when I was young, before I had fame and money. They were hard times and recently I have thought about them a lot, so this is the hardest I've trained in my life."