The icons finally colliding

The most surprising thing about the story that revealed how Manny Pacquiao had literally saved a woman’s life with his words, was that it was not even that surprising.

It went that the 36-year-old Filipino congressman was deeply disturbed by the news that his compatriot, Mary Jane Veloso, was part of a group of nine people convicted of drug trafficking having been caught carrying 2.6kg of heroin at an Indonesian airport in April 2010 and was subsequently sentenced to death.

She was due to face the firing squad this past week after appeal upon appeal had been rejected. That was until some divine intervention from a 5ft 6in man who makes a living beating people up with his shirt off.