I had no idea who Manny Pacquiao was when I made this image early in his career, he was not even a household name yet. I had been informed that he was an up and coming boxer with a bright future. This was shot at the Elorde Gym when he was at 108 lbs. I arrived about an hour before the shoot to search for a location and to set up. Manny arrived about an 1 1/2 hours late and informed me that he needed to work out first before I could take his shot. 4 hours later and if not for Manny's infectious smile, I would have been fuming from all orifices. This was the beginning of a long-working relationship between the two of us for Nike. I shot one roll of Kodak TMX film on my Mamiya RB 67 with a 90mm lens. I kept the lighting very simple. One light bounced off the wall to the left.
This image below was the first time we worked together on a commercial shoot for Nike. Everything you see here was shot separately, Manny, the blood splatters and all, then composed in PS.
"Give Us This Day" is one of my all-time favorite Ad's that I photographed for Nike and most likely the most controversial. I believe the billboard of the is Ad ran for less than a week as the church demanded it be taken down due to its religious content. Here is another article regarding the image, "King of the Ring". It won the following awards: 2009 Araw Awards - Bronze (Local) and the 2010 Asian Interactive Awards - Bronze.
I've been a big fan of Manny Pacquiao since the day I started watching him fight. It was always such a pleasure working with him on the Nike campaigns too. I hope he gets to fight Floyd Mayweather before both of their careers end. Now that would be a great fight to watch live.