By REYNALD MAGALLON
Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown paid a visit to Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao’s home at the Forbes Park in Makati on Tuesday, Aug. 12.
The NBA 2024 Finals Most Valuable Player winner is in the country for his Asian Tour 2025 but went out of his way to visit Pacquiao – a meeting which Brown shared through a series of stories on his official Instagram account.
The only eight-division world champion warmly welcomed Brown, who played chess and made a boxing pose with Pacquiao during his visit.
The two stars then swapped signed gear with Pacquiao giving Brown a black boxing gloves while the latter gave the former one of his playing shoes.
Brown was the latest basketball superstar to meet Pacquiao at his home with Karl-Anthony Towns, Klay Thompson, Dwight Howard, Andray Blatche, and Italian men’s basketball team head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco among the previous visitors of the Filipino icon.
Pacquiao has just returned to the country after spending a vacation in Italy following his comeback fight against World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Mario Barrios.
The 46-year-old fell short of resetting his own record of being the oldest welterweight champion after settling for a majority draw decision against Barrios. Pacquiao, however, has already expressed his desire to return to the ring in December against a yet to be determined opponent.
