University alum Brendan Lally fought Emmanuel \u201cJimuel\u201d Pacquiao Jr., the son of world-championship boxer Manny Pacquiao, on Saturday in Temecula, California, at Pechanga Resort Casino in what was both of the fighters\u2019 professional boxing debuts. The result of the fight, determined by three judges, was a majority draw.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The fight consisted of four three-minute rounds. At multiple points throughout the match, the commentators noted how evenly contested the fight was between Lally and Pacquiao Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The official scores from the judges were a 38-point tie from judges one and two and a 39-37 Pacquiao Jr. win for judge three, leading to a majority draw result for the fight.<\/p>\n
Lally is currently an English teacher at Hyde Park Academy High School in Chicago and is obtaining his master\u2019s degree in education at the University. He graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in English and a minor in secondary education from the University in 2024. During his time as an undergraduate, Lally was part of the Illini Boxing Club<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n He had a brief amateur boxing career going 5-4, similar to Pacquiao Jr.\u2019s 6-4. Notably, in 2022, Lally, representing the University with the Illini Boxing Club, became the United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association\u2019s Male 140 lb Beg National Boxing Champion<\/a>.<\/p>\n In an interview with The Daily Illini, Lally shared that he believed he was done boxing competitively after the end of his collegiate career in 2023. That was until his old coach, Marty Jakubowski, reached out in early October and told him about the opportunity to fight Pacquiao Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lally was at first hesitant when Jakubowski reached out with vague details, but once Lally learned who he would be fighting against, he immediately committed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d been out of the game for two years, but I hadn\u2019t been on the couch,\u201d Lally said. \u201cI reconnected with (my) old coach Marty after about a year of not talking \u2026 and I could tell he was trying to rope me back into some sort of competition, so I didn\u2019t really give him a very urgent reply. Then he dropped the bomb \u2026 so I immediately switched up and I just absolutely committed to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Lally and his team\u2019s game plan for the fight was to make it difficult for Pacquiao Jr. to show his technique.<\/p>\n \u201cKnowing this is Pacquiao\u2019s kid, he\u2019s going to be very technically advanced,\u201d Lally said. \u201cSo the idea was to make him look worse than he was. I think we ended up succeeding and making him look worse than he was.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Lally, despite the reactions online, maintained his belief that Pacquiao Jr. is a good boxer, stating that, though he was the more aggressive of the two, Pacquiao Jr. landed the cleaner hits.<\/p>\n When asked about his performance and if he felt he could have done much more to change the result of the fight, Lally alluded that you can always play the \u2018what if\u2019 game, but one truly could never know.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course I think there were times in the fight when I zigged where I should have zagged and if I hadn\u2019t done one thing I could have done another \u2026 maybe the fight would have went (gone) a different way and I would have gotten the decision, or maybe \u2026 he would have gotten the decision, you know,\u201d Lally said.<\/p>\n Lally viewed the fight as a success and left the ring happy with his execution. He said he believes he did his very best, while reiterating what he said in the post-fight interview regarding the result.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn my head, I succeeded \u2026 I think I was just so happy that I went out there and did what I felt was my best, and I went four rounds with the son of this legend and not only the son of a legend but just plainly put, a really good boxer,\u201d Lally said. \u201cAnd like I said, the most important people said it was a draw, so I\u2019m going to trust in them.\u201d<\/p>\n Lally provided what he admitted to be \u201ca hot take\u201d and explained why, in his opinion, professional boxing is not in the cards for him.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m glad with the draw,\u201d Lally said. \u201cI was happy to get out there and do my best, and so I feel very fulfilled having that moment. I understand that my opponent is a great guy and that he wants to do this for his life. With a draw, I am totally confident that if he wants it bad enough, he can come back from it and be alright.\u201d<\/p>\n In the eight weeks of preparation he had to train for his match, Lally dropped from 160 lbs to 134.2 lbs for the fight. He said his experience in the International Boxing Council and becoming a USIBA national champion helped him balance his training, work life and personal life, as he previously did with the responsibilities of being a student and a boxer.<\/p>\n Lally joined the IBC in the spring semester of his freshman year. He was the social chair and the men\u2019s team captain in 2023 and later became a coach for the club in 2024. He said becoming a national champion is something that he will never forget.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c(Becoming champion) was the coolest experience ever,\u201d Lally said. \u201cIf you\u2019ve watched Star Wars, I felt like I went on an insane adventure, and I defeated Darth Vader.\u201d<\/p>\n Lally, when asked what the coolest part of his professional boxing debut was, said it was the moments after the fight, and alluded to feeling the same way he did after becoming a USIBA national champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c(The coolest part) would have to be after it was over,\u201d Lally said. \u201cI felt the same exact feeling that I did after USIBA, just on a whole other level \u2026 at USIBA, I felt like I had just gone on an adventure and defeated Darth Vader. I felt the same thing here.\u201d<\/p>\n Lally recalled the moments after the fight, emphasizing his jubilance post-fight in the ring and how talking to family and friends once outside the ring filled him with joy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just so cool, up in the middle of the ring I\u2019m dancing, I\u2019m happy that I made it through safe \u2026 and then (I) get back to my phone and texting and calling everybody, like that was just so hype,\u201d Lally said. \u201cI think in life the coolest thing is the connections that you make with people, and so to do that it just felt like a total celebration of those connections, which just felt amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n Lally said there were two key takeaways he gained from making his pro debut, which he is bringing back to his regular life as a Chicago high school English teacher.<\/p>\n One originated from a conversation with his father. Lally mentioned how the past year, he had gotten into a cycle of \u201crinse-and-repeat,\u201d leading to him having trouble appreciating life.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI would get to work, I would do my job, I would come home, I\u2019d do it as best I could,\u201d Lally said. \u201cI\u2019d come home and pass out from exhaustion, and I would get back to work the next day and do the same thing, and kind of fell into that grind of rinse-and-repeat.\u201d<\/p>\n Lally said that after he told his father about his decision to fight Pacquiao Jr., his father reminded him that he needed to find fulfillment in the small things.\u00a0<\/p>\n He recalled his father saying, \u201c\u2018Son, I feel like you might not find fulfillment in your life in a lot of \u2026 the things you do, like being a good boyfriend and being a good teacher and being a good student at grad school. But you want to be in a real ring, and there\u2019s honor in that, but you should find more fulfillment in what you do (outside the real ring).\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Lally said that conversation stuck with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI looked around at life, and I realized that he\u2019s absolutely right, like there\u2019s so much beauty in the tiny moments that are easy to take for granted,\u201d Lally said. \u201cThis whole adventure \u2026 brought back the perspective that I think I needed to get on life.\u201d<\/p>\n The second takeaway Lally got from his experience was a newfound awareness of the struggles of hunger. Lally, to reach the weight class,\u00a0 had to cut weight and therefore limit his diet.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt was an active choice to be hungry \u2026 it\u2019s obvious, (but) some people are out here who don\u2019t have that choice and have to be hungry,\u201d Lally said.<\/p>\n The hunger from intentionally reducing his calorie intake has inspired Lally to help those who struggle with hunger.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to commit myself to volunteering at any food pantry in Chicago,\u201d Lally said. \u201cI\u2019ve been looking into the Greater Chicago Food Depository \u2026 So if anybody wants to hang out with the guy that fought Jimuel Pacquiao Jr., then please email me or send me a message on LinkedIn and let\u2019s get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n Lastly, Lally wanted to give thanks to the people who supported him.<\/p>\n \u201cI would love to say thank you to the people who supported me,\u201d Lally said. \u201cI would specifically like to shout out Huey Gao \u2026 he\u2019s been just such a huge support in my training for this fight. He spent every day of the week with me, crafting (and helping me) execute the game plan \u2026 I\u2019d also like to shout out my girlfriend, Melinda. I love her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He encouraged readers to contact him through email at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> or via Instagram<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n