FIBA World Cup Manila's Most Wanted: Manny Pacquiao
MANILA, Philippines – All of the lights may be on the basketball court and its biggest stars, but a slew of international players have maintained their focus on meeting a world boxing legend in their Philippine stay so far.
Manny Pacquiao, the 44-year-old Filipino ring icon, remains one of the highly sought personalities for foreign visitors, including Dominican Republic center Karl-Anthony Towns, in the middle of the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Towns, the Minnesota Timberwolves ace now leading the Dominicans’ unbeaten run so far, paid a visit to Pacquiao’s mansion in Makati and right after he towed his team to a stunning 87-82 win over heavy favorite Italy Sunday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS ???? MANNY PACQUIAO
— John Bryan Ulanday (@bryanulanday) August 27, 2023
Towns and Pacquiao met yesterday ahead of Dominican Republic’s match against Italy.
“It’s fun. It’s great to meet a Filipino legend, boxing legend, sports legend. I’ve known Manny for a long while.”@PhilippineStar @StarSportsHub pic.twitter.com/WltEgB1dCt
“It’s fun. It’s great to meet a Filipino legend, boxing legend and sports legend. I’ve known Manny for a while,” Towns told reporters after the Dominican Republic went 2-0 in Group A to bolster its second-round hopes.
The versatile 7-footer said had visited Pacquiao in his training camp for a fight against Errol Spence Jr., who turned out to be Yordenis Ugas following the former’s withdrawal due to injury in 2021 and has seen some of his matches in the United States.
“Being able to see him in the ring personally, being in training camp. It’s really fun to catch up. We haven’t seen each other in a while,” added Towns, who also stamped his class in his team’s close 87-81 win against home team Gilas Pilipinas in front of a record-breaking crowd.
Now at the turf of the only eight-division boxing champion in the world, Towns would just not let a golden opportunity slip away to make his presence felt and reconnect with one of the world's sports legends.
Towns surely turned it into an added motivation as he posted 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in the world No. 23 Dominican Republic’s stunner over world No. 10 Italy.
Italy also has a huge Pacquiao fan on deck in the name of its head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco, who looked for the Pambansang Kamao right upon the Italians’ airport arrival.
“I love Manny Pacquiao,” said Pozzecco, whose wards will battle the Philippines in a crucial game today to determine the teams advancing to the second round.
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