Professional boxer Manny Pacquiao. Photo: Twitter.

Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee welcomed a baby boy last Sunday whom they named Israel, Phil Boxing reported.

Baby Israel was born at the General Santos Doctors Hospital in General Santos City, Philippines. The child, weighing 8.1 pounds, is the third boy out of the couple’s five children and was delivered via caesarian section.

“Jinkee, myself and our family, our four other children, thank God for the safe delivery of baby Israel, who we hope to raise as a good Christian, having been named after the Holy Land, which is the birth place of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Pacquiao said on the night of the boy’s birth. “Like our four other children, baby Israel will be well taken care of, and, as he reaches his school years, will be enrolled in top notch schools so he will become a good citizen of our beloved country and an asset to society.”

“Definitely, baby Israel will be an additional inspiration for Jinkee and myself to further serve our people as government servants and Christianity as servants of our faith,” said Pacquiao, who is the only pugilist to have won ten world championship belts in eight weight divisions.

Though Pacquiao said the choice to name his son Israel was inspired by Christianity, his publicist, Fred Sternberg, told The Algemeiner that Pacquiao “loves” the Jewish state. Sternberg added that the boxer and his family have visited the country several times.

Sternberg also revealed that the superstar athlete has mezuzahs affixed to every doorpost of his Philippines home.

“Big ones, he got them in Israel,” Sternberg said, referring to the parchment scrolls inscribed with Torah verses that are traditionally placed on doorposts in Jewish homes. “He didn’t have one on the bathroom door. He seemed to know where to put them.”

Pacquiao revealed plans to name his son Israel even before the child was born. On April 13, the boxer wrote on Twitter, “I am looking forward to going home to be with Jinkee and my children as we await the arrival of our baby, Israel.”

Baby Israel’s birth came exactly two weeks after Pacquiao scored a victory in the ring in a revenge match against Timothy Bradley to win back the World Boxing Organization’s welterweight crown. Pacquiao said his fifth child’s birth will also serve as additional motivation for him to continue fighting if only to show fellow Filipinos that there is life after defeat, Phil Boxing said.