Pacquiao among CNN's Top 20 stories of 2010

Manny Pacquiao continues to reap international recognition, with CNNGo.com, CNN’s Asian travel guide website, including his congressional win in last May’s Philippine presidential elections among the 20 stories that changed our world in 2010. Pacquiao placed 19th in a list that included the India cricket scandal, the Hong Kong tourists killed in the Manila bus tragedy, the Commonwealth Games failure in New Delhi, Korea military hostilities, and the almost year-long Red Shirts protest in Thailand. "The fighter of the last decade could be the politician of the next," it said in the story. Pacquiao, in his second run at public office, knocked out Roy Chiongbian, the candidate that the powerful Chiongbian political clan chose to match up against the Filipino boxing legend for the lone congressional seat in Sarangani province in the May 2010 elections. Pacquiao began his congressional duties in June, but requested for a two-month-long leave to train for his fight against Antonio Margarito last November. The eight-division world champion also topped SportsIllustrated.com’s top boxing stories of 2010. "Already boxing's most exciting fighter, Pacquiao became a global phenomeon in 2010, penetrating the American sporting mainstream like no Asian-born athlete in history," wrote Bryan Armen Graham. Graham said that aside from winning nearly half of boxing’s 17 weight divisions, Pacquiao was also featured in 60 Minutes almost a year after being included in Time magazine’s 100 most influential people. Pacquiao also earned the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) 2009 Fighter of the Year and Fighter of the Decade awards, and scored dominating victories against Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito this year. For winning the 154-pound World Boxing Council (WBC) super welterweight strap, Pacquiao became the first boxer ever to win eight world titles in eight different weight classes. His other titles are 112 lbs (WBC flyweight), 122 (International Boxing Federation junior featherweight); 126 (The Ring featherweight), 130 (WBC super featherweight), 135 (WBC lightweight), 140 (The Ring junior welterweight) and 147 (WBO welterweight). He is scheduled to defend his WBO welterweight title against former three-time world champion Shane Mosley on May 7. – Jon Perez, KY, GMANews.TV