Comes now the billionaire fighter

Over the last couple of years Manny Pacquiao has left a lot of people guessing as to how much he’s earned on top of the ring.

No one from within Team Pacquiao, not Top Rank chief Bob Arum, lawyer Franklin Gacal or his battery of advisers, would bare the figures.

The only thing that’s certain is that Pacquiao is no longer the same man who used to sell cigarettes on the streets of Gen. Santos City.

Pacquiao broke into prominence with a stunning knockout of South Africa’s Lehlo Ledwaba at the MGM Grand on June 23, 2001.

A late substitute, Pacquiao earned $40,000 (now roughly P2 million) for that fight that led to probably the greatest rags-to-riches story in sports.

“I don’t know anything about him. But now I want to see more of him,” Larry Merchant, the legendary ring analyst, said of Pacquiao then.

Pacquiao fought a couple more of good fights against Agapito Sanchez, Jorge Julio and Emmanuel Lucero before landing a fight against Marco Antonio Barrera.

Pacquiao was a 4-1 underdog against the “Baby-Faced Assassin” but he just didn’t mind as he faced the biggest paycheck of his life – half a million dollars.

He waged a very memorable battle against the Mexican hero, and an 11th-round knockout finally made people from around the world notice.

Insiders recalled that in Pacquiao’s first few fights in the US, all he needed was a small piece of paper to track down all his expenses. Now he needs an accountant.

In one fight, Pacquiao said his former business manager Rod Nazario fumed upon getting the bills to his cell phone that they used in the US.

“He was so angry his bills amounted to $700,” Pacquiao laughed as he recalled the incident.

Today, it’s just a drop in the bucket. He can spend the same amount in one sitting in a nice restaurant, or spend them on some signature jeans.

He got his first million-dollar fight against Erik Morales in March of 2005, then earned at least $2 million more for his next two fights with the Mexican Hall-of-Famer.

Pacquiao got no less than $3 million for his next fights against Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez and David Diaz, then stretched his win streak to nine with the celebrated knockout victory over Oscar dela Hoya last Dec. 6.

For that fight Pacquiao’s earnings just topped it all. It’s no less than $10 million and based on some computations could go as high as $20 million.

The STAR was furnished a detailed, but unofficial, rundown on Pacquiao’s earnings on the ring, starting with the Ledwaba fight, and it doesn’t include his endorsement deals.