'It’s Manny Pacquiao, right?'

It was the pre-party before Manny Pacquiao’s fight against Antonio Margarito in Dallas, Texas. The club was packed when suddenly a short fit guy with a bearded smile walks in. The DJ announces on the mic, “Manny Pacquiao is in the building!" The crowd goes wild, except for Team Pacquiao who were waiting in the VIP lounge. They knew Manny wasn’t arriving yet. So who was this guy? “They sent for me in the VIP room and saw how much I looked like Manny Pacquiao. They said, ‘Wow, carbon copy di ba?’" retells Pacquiao deadringer Allan Rivera Manuel. The 26-year-old has always been a Pacman fan. But unlike other fans, he gets mistaken as the Pambansang Kamao himself. Why not? The similarity is uncanny – they have the same height, weight, skin tone and hairstyle. Allan can even imitate Pacquiao’s voice. “When I look in the mirror, I fool myself sometimes when I see how similar we look," he says. “I don’t even know Allan Rivera Manuel anymore." Dream come true Like any fanatic, Allan’s dream was to meet his idol. It finally happened before the Shane Mosley bout last May. Pacquiao was holding a private training session in Hollywood when the two first met. “We had eye contact and I was just speechless," he remembers, wide-eyed. “He was shadow boxing and when he saw me there, he had this big smile," he continues. As if he wasn’t lucky enough, he was even allowed to stay and watch Manny train. “Am I in trouble?" Allan had already been going around impersonating Manny when he received a call from the latter’s lawyer. “I was like, ‘Am I in trouble for impersonating Manny?’" he says. “But his lawyer said, ‘No, you’re not in trouble. Manny has previous appointments and we want you to come in for him for the release party of his cologne.’" So Allan got dressed, went to the release party on Pacquiao’s behalf and posed for photos with the fans. From a fan himself, he instantly became the world’s greatest pound-for-pound fighter’s body double. Since then, he’s been making heads turn whenever Pacquiao has a fight, most recently in Las Vegas. He interacts with Manny’s fans and even has an entourage of his own – he’s living the pseudo-life of Manny Pacquiao. Want to follow Pacman’s footsteps More than the attention, what Allan really wants to do is follow in the footsteps of Pacman. He has started training in boxing (he notes that he also falls under the same weight class as Manny). In fact, he had a meeting with Top Rank regarding a boxing career. “They want to look for a Mayweather look-alike and maybe put up a fight. They said the possibilities are endless," he says. A boxing match between two professional impersonators? The possibilities are indeed endless. Allan adds that he also wants to do charity work like his idol and maybe dabble in show business too but only on a short-term basis. No Jinkee Allan and Manny are alike in so many aspects. He even has the same boxing glove tattoo on his chest. However, he says that they differ in one thing – he doesn’t have a Jinkee in his life. “I wanna do a reality show. It’ll be called ‘Where’s my Jinkee?’ and it’ll be like ‘The Bachelor,’" he says. Since the reality show dream is still that, what he really wants to do is continue impersonating Manny. He travelled from Texas to Manila to meet Pacquiao and ask for his blessing. “I want to ask him if I can do all these things on his behalf in the US. People in the States miss out on what he’s about because he spends most of his time in the Philippines as a family man and as a congressman," he explains. “I want to attend US charity events for him and raise awareness about certain issues I know he would like to address like poverty and cancer," he adds. To make the most out of his visit to the Philippines, he is also going around doing appearances. In fact, he guested on GMA’s sports webshow “For The Win" where we got to meet and interview him. (See the video below.) If you look at Allan closely, he really does ooze Manny Pacquiao both physically and mentally. Heck, they even have the same tattoo. Now, he only needs four things to actually follow his idol – world titles in eight divisions, a political career, an album, and a Jinkee to come home to. -- OMG/HS, GMA News
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