Manny Pacquiao and 5 Boxers Who Make Better Music

Pound-for-pound boxing king Manny Pacquiao has hit it big in the singing world with a remake of Dan Hill's 1978 single, "Sometimes When We Touch."

Pacquiao's version of the classic has become a bit of a YouTube phenomenon, gaining millions of hits over the past few months.

The single even charted on the Secondary Adult Contemporary Chart for a short time.

But boxing has had its fair share of interesting musicians, who could sing, rap, and orchestrate circles around Pacquiao.

Check out the five boxers who sing better than Manny Pacquiao.

5. Oscar De La Hoya

Oscar De La Hoya croons to knock the ladies out with his cover of the Bee Gees' "Run to Me."

His vocal chops earned his bilingual English/Spanish album a Grammy nomination for "Best Latin Pop Album" back in 2001.

De La Hoya would never record again, but the self-titled debut album is up for sale on Amazon, with samples of every track so you can hear the "Golden Voice" of the Golden Boy De La Hoya.

4. Jack Johnson and His Band

Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion of the world, was a rich man at one point of his career.

He bought a nightclub and often performed with his band. He acted as conductor and danced and moved to the jumping beat of the music.

He would unfortunately have to sell his club to a gangster named Owney Madden three years later. Madden turned it into the infamous "Cotton Club".

Here in this video, Johnson and his band perform the song, "Tiger Rag".

3. Ernie Terrell and the Heavyweights

Around 1967, Muhammad Ali had just changed his name from Cassius Clay. Ali became angered at those who addressed him by his former name.

Terrell not only addressed him by that name, but he sung about it in the above video.

Terrell was a very good champion for his day and he was possibly an even better singer.

Sure he defeated the likes of George Chuvalo, Bob Foster, Cleveland Williams (who gave Sonny Liston hell), and Zora Folley.

But he defeated the ears of many a listener so well, he was able to easily slip into a post-boxing career as a music producer upon retirement.

2. Mike Tyson

Now everyone knows of the hilarious scenes in The Hangover 1 and 2 featuring Mike Tyson's rendition of "In the Air Tonight" and "One Night in Bangkok".

One moment many may have forgotten or don't know about is the Halloween special many years ago on the Jimmy Kimmel show that produced a lot of laughter.

The special musical guests of the night were Bobby Brown and Mike Tyson, singing "Monster Mash". Brown was dressed as James Brown and Tyson as Dracula. The performance was so horribly bad and funny that one couldn't help but smile at the video.

Yes, Pacquiao clearly sings better than Tyson, but Tyson doesn't take himself so seriously. All of Tyson's musical performances have provided classic moments in movie and television history to be laughed at for years to come.

1. Roy Jones Jr.

Roy Jones was rapping to the ends of the Earth in 2001-2005.

Sure De La Hoya had a Grammy nomination, Johnson had a famous club and a band, Terrell sparked one of boxing's best beefs as well as a few minor hits, and Tyson created some very funny moments, but Jones has something even better, hit records.

He released two rap albums with at least three successful singles.

Two of them became instant club bangers, "I Smoke, I Drank" and "Can't Be Touched" featuring his own rap group, the Body Head Bangerz.

Jones may not have been that great of a rapper, but his music burned up the charts probably thanks to his numerous musical guests that included the Young Bloodz, a hot Southern rap commodity at the time.

Tastes vary from person to person, but numbers don't lie. If Pacquiao wants to be the most successful boxer to ever turn musician, he needs to crank out some hit albums and singles PRONTO!

On That Note...

Here's Manny Pacquiao's rendition of John Lennon's "Imagine" as first performed on the Jimmy Kimmel show with Will Ferrell.