Proud mother Jinkee beamed with pride, as she shared images beside her husband and her newly-graduated son to her 1.2 million followers, captioned, “Proud and Blessed Mom and Dad!” Senator Manny kept it short and sweet, sharing the same photos, saying, “We are so proud of you, Jimuel Pacquiao.”
The teenager has yet to announce if he will be furthering his studies post-graduation, as he was recently featured in the media following his father’s footsteps. In a previous interview, Manny said that despite refraining his son from pursuing boxing, he was told, “Daddy, like you, boxing is my passion also. I want to be the representative of this country as an athlete.” Jimuel added in Filipino, “I always told [my parents], I’ll train properly, I’ll jog, I’ll practice. I told them that a few times before they agreed [to let me fight].”
Last April 13, Jimuel got a taste of victory in his first amateur match, knocking out opponent Miguel Egan, who was eight years his senior, in the second round of the match during the Fight Against Depression Event. When talking about competing in the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games, and Olympics to represent the country someday, Jimuel told the press, “He explains, “I still have to work on a lot of things but I’m going to continue to train and see what I’ve got. My goal is still to prepare for the amateur.”
Since then, the eight-time boxing champion has been giving pointers to his son when it comes to footwork, defense, evasion, and combination punches in the highly physical sport.
Jimuel is the eldest of the couple’s five children,namely Michael Stephen, Mary Divine Grace, Queen Elizabeth, and Israel.