The Most Famous

BOXERS from Philippines

Icon of occuation in country

This page contains a list of the greatest Filipino Boxers. The pantheon dataset contains 496 Boxers, 8 of which were born in Philippines. This makes Philippines the birth place of the 17th most number of Boxers behind Poland, and Armenia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Filipino Boxers of all time. This list of famous Filipino Boxers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Filipino Boxers.

Photo of Manny Pacquiao

1. Manny Pacquiao (b. 1978)

With an HPI of 61.40, Manny Pacquiao is the most famous Filipino Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 66 different languages on wikipedia.

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. ( PAK-ee-ow; locally [ˈmanɪ pɐkˈjaʊ]; born December 17, 1978) is a Filipino professional boxer and retired politician. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time, becoming the only eight-division world champion in boxing history. He also served as a senator of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. Pacquiao has won twelve major world titles overall. He is the first boxer to win major world titles in four of the eight "glamour divisions" (flyweight, featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight), and is the only boxer to hold world championships across four decades (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s). In July 2019, Pacquiao became the oldest welterweight world champion in history at the age of 40, and the first boxer in history to become a recognized four-time welterweight champion, after defeating Keith Thurman to win the WBA (Super) welterweight title. As of 2015, Pacquiao's fights had generated $1.2 billion in revenue from his 25 pay-per-view bouts. Forbes ranked him the second highest paid athlete in the world in 2012 and 2015, and the eighth highest paid athlete of the 2010s. In 2024, ESPN ranked Pacquiao as the greatest Asian athlete of the 21st century. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the class of 2025. Pacquiao entered politics in 2010 when he was elected as the representative of Sarangani. He held this post for six years until he was elected and assumed office as a senator in 2016. He became the leader of the (at that time ruling) PDP–Laban party in 2020 (which is disputed since 2021). On September 19, 2021, Pacquiao officially declared his candidacy for President of the Philippines in the 2022 Philippine presidential election; he ended up losing to Bongbong Marcos. Following his unsuccessful campaign in the 2025 Senate election, he announced his intention to retire from politics and came out of retirement from boxing. Outside of boxing and politics, Pacquiao was the player-coach for the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) team Kia/Mahindra for three seasons from 2014 to 2017, before founding the semi-professional Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. He has also starred in films and has presented television shows. In music, he has released multiple PARI-certified platinum albums and songs; his cover of "Sometimes When We Touch" peaked at 19 in the United States on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart after a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! He is an Evangelical Christian preacher, philanthropist, and entrepreneur.

Photo of Francisco Guilledo

2. Francisco Guilledo (1901 - 1925)

With an HPI of 58.54, Francisco Guilledo is the 2nd most famous Filipino Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Francisco Villaruel Guilledo (August 1, 1901 – July 14, 1925), commonly known as Pancho Villa, was a Filipino professional boxer. Villa, who stood only 5 feet and 1 inch (154 cm) tall and never weighed more than 114 pounds (51 kg), despite the racial discrimination of that time, rose from obscurity to become the first Asian to win the World Flyweight Championship in 1923, earning the reputation in some quarters as one of the greatest Flyweight boxers in history. Villa is widely regarded as one of the greatest Filipino boxers of all time alongside Manny Pacquiao and Gabriel Elorde. He was never knocked out in his entire boxing career, which ended with his sudden death at only twenty-three from complications following a tooth extraction.

Photo of Gabriel Elorde

3. Gabriel Elorde (1935 - 1985)

With an HPI of 49.00, Gabriel Elorde is the 3rd most famous Filipino Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Gabriel "Flash" Elorde (March 25, 1935 – January 2, 1985) was a Filipino professional boxer. He won the lineal super featherweight title in 1960. In 1963, he won the inaugural WBC and WBA super featherweight titles. He holds the record at super featherweight division for the longest title reign, spanning seven years. Elorde is considered one of the best Filipino boxers of all time along with eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao and Pancho Villa, flyweight champion in the 1920s. He was much beloved in the Philippines as a sports and cultural icon, being the first Filipino international boxing champion since middleweight champion Ceferino Garcia.

Photo of Mansueto Velasco

4. Mansueto Velasco (b. 1974)

With an HPI of 43.87, Mansueto Velasco is the 4th most famous Filipino Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Mansueto "Onyok" Velasco Jr. (born January 10, 1974) is a Filipino retired boxer, comedian and actor from Bago, Negros Occidental. Competing in the 48 kg category he won a gold medal at the 1994 Asian Games and a silver at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the Philippines' only medal at those Games. He is the younger brother of Roel Velasco, a light-flyweight boxer who won a bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Photo of Nonito Donaire

5. Nonito Donaire (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 43.25, Nonito Donaire is the 5th most famous Filipino Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Nonito Gonzales Donaire Jr. ( do-NAIR; Tagalog: [noˈnito gonˈsalɛs doˈnaɪre]; born November 16, 1982) is a Filipino American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes, from flyweight to featherweight, and is the oldest boxer in history to win a bantamweight world title (at age 38), as well as being the first three-time champion in that weight class. Donaire has also held world championships in three consecutive decades: the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, being the sixth boxer to do so after Evander Holyfield, Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, Erik Morales, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. In total, Donaire has held nine world titles by the main four boxing sanctioning bodies. He has also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) flyweight title, the World Boxing Association (WBA) interim super flyweight title, and the Ring magazine and lineal super bantamweight titles. Donaire is popularly known as "The Filipino Flash" and is a two-time winner of The Ring's Knockout of the Year award, in 2007 and 2011. He reached a peak pound for pound ranking of third by The Ring in 2011, and was named Fighter of the Year in 2012 by the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Photo of Donnie Nietes

6. Donnie Nietes (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 38.41, Donnie Nietes is the 6th most famous Filipino Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Donnie Liboon Nietes (born May 12, 1982) is a Filipino professional boxer who has won world titles in four weight-classes, having previously held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) mini-flyweight title from 2007 to 2011; the WBO and The Ring magazine junior-flyweight titles between 2011 and 2016, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight title from 2017 to 2018; and the WBO junior-bantamweight title from 2018 to 2019. He is the longest-reigning Filipino boxing world champion, surpassing in 2014 the record set in 1967 by Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Gabriel "Flash" Elorde. He was one of the first three Asian fighters with world titles in at least four weight classes alongside fellow Filipinos Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire.

Photo of Harry Tañamor

7. Harry Tañamor (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 35.11, Harry Tañamor is the 7th most famous Filipino Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Harry Tañamor (born August 20, 1977) is an amateur boxer from Zamboanga City, Philippines best known to medal repeatedly on the world stage at light flyweight.

Photo of Nesthy Petecio

8. Nesthy Petecio (b. 1992)

With an HPI of 32.19, Nesthy Petecio is the 8th most famous Filipino Boxer.  Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Nesthy Alcayde Petecio (born April 11, 1992) is a Filipino amateur boxer. She won a silver medal in the inaugural women's featherweight event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Filipino woman to win an Olympic medal in boxing, and won a bronze medal in the women's flyweight event at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She also won a silver medal at the 2014 World Championships and gold at the 2019 edition. With two Olympic medals, Petecio is the first Filipino boxer to win multiple medals in the Olympic Games.

Photo of Aira Villegas

9. Aira Villegas (b. 1995)

With an HPI of 26.55, Aira Villegas is the 9th most famous Filipino Boxer.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Aira Cordero Villegas (born August 1, 1995) is a Filipino amateur boxer. She won a bronze medal in the inaugural women's Light Flyweight event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Eumir Marcial

10. Eumir Marcial (b. 1995)

With an HPI of 23.89, Eumir Marcial is the 10th most famous Filipino Boxer.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Eumir Felix de los Santos Marcial (born October 29, 1995) is a Filipino boxer. While representing the Philippines as an amateur, he won a silver medal at the 2019 World Championships and bronze at the 2020 Summer Olympics, both in the middleweight division.

People

Pantheon has 11 people classified as Filipino boxers born between 1901 and 1995. Of these 11, 9 (81.82%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Filipino boxers include Manny Pacquiao, Mansueto Velasco, and Nonito Donaire. The most famous deceased Filipino boxers include Francisco Guilledo, and Gabriel Elorde. As of April 2024, 3 new Filipino boxers have been added to Pantheon including Donnie Nietes, Harry Tañamor, and Aira Villegas.

Living Filipino Boxers

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Deceased Filipino Boxers

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Newly Added Filipino Boxers (2025)

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous