Jimuel Pacquiao opens pro boxing career with a majority draw decision

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Emmanuel “Jimuel” Pacquiao Jr., the son of living legend and boxing’s only eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, kicked off his professional debut against American Brendan Lally, which ended in a thrilling majority draw decision.

On Nov. 30, 2025, Pacquiao took his off-season learnings to the bright lights of the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California, but had to wait for his first victory when the ring announcer revealed the scorecards.

Two official ringside judges scored the four-round lightweight bout 38–38, 38–38, while the third had it for the son of the royalty, 39–37.

With the official result, Jimuel just replicated the verdict of his father’s last comeback fight against Mario Barrios, where the showdown was also scored a majority draw decision.

In a contrasting clash of styles, it was the American pug who dictated the pace at the opening bell after coming out as the aggressor.

Lally pressured Pacquiao by hounding him on the front foot, throwing a series of wild haymakers to show that he was the busier fighter.

Pacquiao had some moments in the first round, hitting Lally with two clean uppercuts, but the majority of the unofficial scorecards gave the opener to the American challenger due to his ring activity and fight initiations.

Just when Lally thought he could amp up the pressure in the following round, the more precise Pacquiao gained his footing when he decided to let his hands go and scored on several clean counter hooks to even the bout at 1-all.

From a passive and counter-centric first-round approach, Pacquiao knew he had to put some green marks on the judges’ sheets and utilized his efficient right straight that landed at will.

Both fighters entered an interesting slugfest in the final two rounds, with Lally reverting to his hounding pressure to assert his will in the third, while Pacquiao leaned on his technical approach to land the bigger punches.

The fourth and final round saw both determined pugs duke it out in the center of the ring, engaging in a bloody exchange of blows that made the final call harder for the judges.

Despite slowing down midway through the fight, Pacquiao’s edge in the power punching department proved to be enough to help him earn the nod of a judge.