Manny Pacquiao usually relies on the boxing promoter Bob Arum to stir up publicity for his fights. But now the welterweight champion and Filipino congressman has entered a new ring: music. Between his last fight in May and next bout in November, Pacquiao has shot up the charts with his single, ?Sometimes When We Touch,? which moved to No. 7 in the secondary adult contemporary rankings this morning, according to Friday Morning Quarterback Report, a trade publication that monitors smaller radio markets. This is the first time Pacquiao?s track has cracked the top 10.
Singer Dan Hill heard Pacquiao perform his ballad on ?Jimmy Kimmel Live? in late 2009. He reached out to the boxer and they met last June at the St. Regis in New York, where Pacquiao had booked an entire floor. ?It was like hanging out with Elvis meets Muhammad Ali,? Hill said. They became fast friends and agreed to make a record, video and documentary. In October, while he was training 12 hours a day in Hollywood for his fight with Antonio Margarito, Pacquiao met Hill in Capital Studios, still wearing his workout clothes. ?I didn?t want to tire the guy out, because I was really worried about his fight,? said Hill, who came away impressed by Pacquiao?s focus on singing. He even compared it to that of Celine Dion.
