Manny Pacquiao has quite the following to say the least. Among his supporters are WWE wrestlers Batista, The Undertaker and Christian (all of whom have accompanied him to the ring at one time or another), actor Mark Wahlberg (who watched Pacquiao train on an episode of HBO’s 24/7) and talk show host / comedian Jimmy Kimmel (who will welcome Pacquiao back to his TV show this Wednesday night).
Add Golden Globe award winning actor Ron Pearlman to that list.
Last Thursday while in Los Angeles to cover Pacquiao training camp at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym, my colleagues at www.8countnews.com and I went to eat at the Rainbow Bar & Grill.
While there we came across Ron Pearlman, an actor best known for his work in the Hellboy films and the TV show Beauty & The Beast. He’s currently on the TV show Sons of Anarchy. Striking up a conversation with the actor, we informed him we were in town to cover Pacquiao training camp. Pearlman informed us that he was a fight fan and a Pacquiao fan. An offer was extended to watch Pacquiao train. Pearlman accepted.
The following day Pearlman showed up at the Wild Card Gym to watch Pacman train. Pacquiao was running a little bit late that day, so Pearlman killed time by talking boxing with Freddie Roach, even confessing a secret desire to always portray a boxer on film.
Finally, Pacquiao showed up. They both posed for pictures and Pacquiao’s photographer Miguel snapped some shots to the two together. He then drove down the street to the Kinko’s to get a poster sized version of the photo. When he came back less than 20 minutes later, Pacquiao gladly signed an autograph on the photo for the actor.
“Hey Miguel, How come you never do any pictures that quick for me?”, Roach asked as everyone laughed.
“Because you weren’t in Hellboy”, Miguel replied.
Pearlman soon left after watching Pacquiao train for a bit more. Another example of Pacman’s popularity extending way beyond the boxing community.
