CEBU CITY -- After being a guest in a popular late night TV show, Manny Pacquiao hit another media milestone by being picked as the cover of Time Magazine.

It was the second time that Pacquiao, who will face Miguel Cotto for the WBO welterweight title on November 15 (Philippine time), graced the prestigious magazine’s cover.

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But unlike the first one, when he shared the space with the rest of the magazine’s list of 100 of the most influential person in the world, Pacquiao had the cover all to himself. The magazine ran a story chronicling Pacquiao’s rise from poverty to become what it calls as the “latest savior in boxing.”

It was the second time since Cory Aquino made it in 1988 that a Filipino became the cover feature of the international edition of the prestigious magazine.

The last time a boxer made it to the front page was also in 1988, with Mike Tyson, who was then the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

Prior to making the cover of the Magazine, Pacquiao, who was a guest on Jimmy Kemmel’s late night show, also made the cover of Reader’s Digest.

According to the story, Freddie Roach, acknowledged as the guy who helped transform Pacquiao to become the pound-for-pound number one today, only needed a brief time to realize he had a gem of a fighter.

“I just did one round with mitts with him, and I thought, ‘Man, can this ______ fight,’” Roach told Time Magazine.

Time also confirmed the rumor that hit Internet forums a few weeks back -- that Pacquiao’s conditioning coach Alex Ariza and adviser Michael Koncz came to blows.

Roach, who said he regretted the day he introduced Koncz to Pacquiao, said the Canadian adviser “just doesn’t care if he’s being unreasonable.”

The two-time Trainer of the Year also said he wants Pacquiao to fight two more times before calling it quits.

Pacquiao is planning to run for the congressional seat of Sarangani province, in what could be the “fight of his life” according to Time Magazine.

Roach and Pacquiao teamed up in 2001 and have become one of the best tandems in the sport.

Since having Roach as his trainer, Pacquiao has gone 17-1-2 in his last 20 fights, with 14 knockouts.

His lone loss was against Erik Morales in their first fight, while his two draws were against the late Agapito Sanchez and Juan Manuel Marquez in their first match.

Those who went the distance against him were Marco Antonio Barrera in their rematch, Oscar Larios and Marquez, also in their rematch.

Time Magazine said Pacquiao, who started fighting as a teenager for P100, could make $18 million (P846 million) in his fight against Cotto. (Mike T. Limpag of Sun.Star Cebu)