University alum Brendan Lally fought Emmanuel “Jimuel” 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’ professional boxing debuts. The result of the fight, determined by three judges, was a majority draw. 

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. 

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.

Lally is currently an English teacher at Hyde Park Academy High School in Chicago and is obtaining his master’s degree in education at the University. He graduated with a bachelor’s 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. 

He had a brief amateur boxing career going 5-4, similar to Pacquiao Jr.’s 6-4. Notably, in 2022, Lally, representing the University with the Illini Boxing Club, became the United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association’s Male 140 lb Beg National Boxing Champion.

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. 

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. 

“I’d been out of the game for two years, but I hadn’t been on the couch,” Lally said. “I reconnected with (my) old coach Marty after about a year of not talking … and I could tell he was trying to rope me back into some sort of competition, so I didn’t really give him a very urgent reply. Then he dropped the bomb … so I immediately switched up and I just absolutely committed to it.”

Lally and his team’s game plan for the fight was to make it difficult for Pacquiao Jr. to show his technique.

“Knowing this is Pacquiao’s kid, he’s going to be very technically advanced,” Lally said. “So 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.” 

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.

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 ‘what if’ game, but one truly could never know.

“Of course I think there were times in the fight when I zigged where I should have zagged and if I hadn’t done one thing I could have done another … maybe the fight would have went (gone) a different way and I would have gotten the decision, or maybe … he would have gotten the decision, you know,” Lally said.

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. 

“In my head, I succeeded … 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,” Lally said. “And like I said, the most important people said it was a draw, so I’m going to trust in them.”

Lally provided what he admitted to be “a hot take” and explained why, in his opinion, professional boxing is not in the cards for him.

“I’m glad with the draw,” Lally said. “I 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.”

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.

Lally joined the IBC in the spring semester of his freshman year. He was the social chair and the men’s 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. 

“(Becoming champion) was the coolest experience ever,” Lally said. “If you’ve watched Star Wars, I felt like I went on an insane adventure, and I defeated Darth Vader.”

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. 

“(The coolest part) would have to be after it was over,” Lally said. “I felt the same exact feeling that I did after USIBA, just on a whole other level … at USIBA, I felt like I had just gone on an adventure and defeated Darth Vader. I felt the same thing here.”

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.

“It was just so cool, up in the middle of the ring I’m dancing, I’m happy that I made it through safe … and then (I) get back to my phone and texting and calling everybody, like that was just so hype,” Lally said. “I 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.”

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.

One originated from a conversation with his father. Lally mentioned how the past year, he had gotten into a cycle of “rinse-and-repeat,” leading to him having trouble appreciating life. 

“I would get to work, I would do my job, I would come home, I’d do it as best I could,” Lally said. “I’d 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.”

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. 

He recalled his father saying, “‘Son, I feel like you might not find fulfillment in your life in a lot of … 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’s honor in that, but you should find more fulfillment in what you do (outside the real ring).’” 

Lally said that conversation stuck with him. 

“I looked around at life, and I realized that he’s absolutely right, like there’s so much beauty in the tiny moments that are easy to take for granted,” Lally said. “This whole adventure … brought back the perspective that I think I needed to get on life.”

The second takeaway Lally got from his experience was a newfound awareness of the struggles of hunger. Lally, to reach the weight class,  had to cut weight and therefore limit his diet. 

“It was an active choice to be hungry … it’s obvious, (but) some people are out here who don’t have that choice and have to be hungry,” Lally said.

The hunger from intentionally reducing his calorie intake has inspired Lally to help those who struggle with hunger.

“I would like to commit myself to volunteering at any food pantry in Chicago,” Lally said. “I’ve been looking into the Greater Chicago Food Depository … 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’s get to work.”

Lastly, Lally wanted to give thanks to the people who supported him.

“I would love to say thank you to the people who supported me,” Lally said. “I would specifically like to shout out Huey Gao … he’s 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 … I’d also like to shout out my girlfriend, Melinda. I love her.” 

He encouraged readers to contact him through email at [email protected] or via Instagram. 

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