LOS ANGELES ? Manny Pacquiao is taking a beating in the center of this ring. He barely knows a word of this Bee Gees song, which is a bit too high and complicated for his singing skills, and he’s struggling to read the lyrics off the cue cards ? probably because he’s wearing sunglasses in a dark studio.
Nobody at Thursday’s rehearsal for “Jimmy Kimmel Live” is even slightly worried. The pure absurdity of Boxing’s pound-for-pound champion earnestly singing “How Deep Is Your Love” is great television, which is what the ABC talk show gets every time Pacquiao visits.
“Each time you’ve been here, you’ve won the fight,” Kimmel says during their interview two hours later. “I feel like we’re a team, really.”
Pacquiao has made five appearances on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” promoting his pay-per-view bouts and winning over the Hollywood crowds with the same quiet charisma that helped put him in Congress in his native Philippines. After Kimmel prods and teases him through an interview, Pacquiao punctuates each appearance with a song ? his duet with Will Ferrell got 1.5 million hits on YouTube the last time out.
Pacquiao has a singing career back home, and his duet on “Sometimes When We Touch” with songwriter Dan Hill made an improbable impact on the adult-contemporary charts earlier this year. The welterweight superstar has more enthusiasm than vocal talent, but that’s not the point for the adoring fans who pack Kimmel’s audience whenever the Pac-Man makes the short drive from his Wild Card Gym.
