Pacquiao Victory Uplifts Typhoon Haiyan Survivors Jay Directo / AFP / Getty Images Thousands of people celebrate in a public square as national boxing hero Manny Pacquiao is announced the winner of his bout against American Brandon Rios in Manila on November 24. Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao unanimously won the WBO international welterweight title Saturday, serving as a bright spot amid the aftermath for his typhoon-battered nation. Pacquiao's delivered a strong performance against American Brandon Rios at the Venetian hotel in Macau, dedicating his fight - his first since he was knocked out last December by Juan Manuel Marquez - to the victims of the typhoon Haiyan that destroyed much of the Philippines on Nov. 8. The Filipino congressman, long considered a national hero, vowed to visit the devastating wreckage in the hard hit city of Tacloban and outer regions. Typhoon survivors in the Philippines watched, while many Filipino workers in Hong Kong traveled to nearby Macau to cheer on Pacquiao as he returned to the ring. "It would have felt like another storm has hit if he lost," said street sweeper Ardel Nebasa.