Manny Pacquiao to speak at Oxford and Cambridge as Filipino boxing idol returns to school
- Eight-time world champion will address students at famous universities next week
- Muhammad Ali famously made commencement speech at Harvard in 1975
More than 40 years after his idol, Muhammad Ali, took to the stage at Harvard, Filipino idol Manny Pacquiao will follow the same path by speaking at Oxford and Cambridge universities next week.
But whether Pacquiao will ever match Ali’s famous speech at Harvard in 1975 when the “Greatest” was the most recognisable person on the planet remains to be seen.
Pacquiao has accepted an invitation to return to school and speak on campus at the Oxford Union and Cambridge Union on November 5 and 6 respectively.
“To be invited to these beacons of higher learning to speak to their students is indeed a tremendous honour,” said Pacquiao. “I treasure moments like these where I can share my story and my culture, as well as exchange ideas, with the next generation of leaders.”
It’s the first time the eight-division world champion will speak at the renowned universities with the Oxford Union, founded in 1823, known to be the most prestigious student society in the world.
The Oxford Union has hosted world leaders in every field, including Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Malcolm X, Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, Roger Bannister, and former US presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, to name a few.