Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao. –TNT BOXING
MANILA, Philippines—Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao and football great Cristiano Ronaldo had a wholesome meeting during the pre-match festivities for the Ngannou-Fury bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Pacquiao is in Riyadh for the Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury bout on Sunday (Manila time), which has drawn a star-studded attendance including the biggest names in the sport.
TNT Sports Boxing posted a video of the interaction on Instagram, which showed an ecstatic Ronaldo meeting boxing’s only eight-division world champion.
“Hey, Pacquiao!” Ronaldo exclaimed.
“I went to your last game,” then said Pacquiao during the interaction, to which Ronaldo responded to with a smile.
“HEY PACQUIAO!” 🤣@Cristiano absolutely LOVED meeting the legend @MannyPacquiao 🐐#BattleOfTheBaddest #FuryNgannou pic.twitter.com/DHmHUX64qm
— Boxing on TNT Sports (@boxingontnt) October 27, 2023
The match Pacquiao was probably referring to was Ronaldo’s Al Nassr FC 4-3 over l-Duhail SC with the former Real Madrid standout scoring two goals three days ago.
The Portuguese had no shortage of meeting combat powerhouses as he also saw former UFC middleweight king, Israel Adesanya.
While Ronaldo, Adesanya and Pacquiao garnered attention on Saturday, it will be Ngannou and Fury in the spotlight 24 hours from now as they clash in a 10-round bout in the heavyweight division.
The current WBC heavyweight king Fury will clash with former UFC figure Ngannou at Kingdom Arena on Sunday (Manila time.)