Manny Pacquiao News: Filipino Boxer To Have Dinner With British Royalty

Famed welterweight Manny Pacquiao is treated like royalty in the Philippines. Later this month, Pacquiao will get the royal treatment when he travels to the United Kingdom to meet with a member of the British Royal Family.

On Thursday, Pacquiao confirmed that he will meet Prince Harry of Wales, via GMA News. According to Pacquiao, Harry and the Filipino icon are scheduled to have dinner on Jan. 22. PacMan said there’s a possibility that Queen Elizabeth, Harry’s grandmother, could join them.

Prince Harry may not be the only dignitary that Pacquiao meets in the near future. The boxer has already met with President Obama before, but he says there’s a chance it could happen again in the near future. Pacquiao is scheduled to visit the United States twice in the next few weeks, in order to promote his film “Manny” and speak at an event at the National Prayer Breakfast, which will be held in Washington D.C.

It isn’t all that surprising that Prince Harry invited Pacquiao to dinner, considering his apparent affinity for boxing. The prince has admitted that he began boxing to get in shape. In July, he went with his brother, Prince William, to Gorbals Leisure Centre in Glasgow, where he was seen squaring off with a young boxer.

Prince Harry is no stranger to meeting one of the world’s best athletes. When he visited Jamaica just a few months prior to the 2012 Olympics, Prince Harry met 100-meter champion Usain Bolt. Prince Harry is also known to follow rugby.

Pacquiao appears to have some time on his hands, since he doesn’t have a fight scheduled for 2015. His camp is reportedly in negotiations with Floyd Mayweather regarding a possible bout in May, though it’s far from a guarantee that the two sides will come to an agreement. In order to make the fight happen, Pacquiao has spent some of his time taunting Mayweather on social media.

Should a bout with Mayweather fall through, Pacquiao could line up a bout with Amir Khan, who is a native of Bolton, England.