When Karl-Anthony Towns came to town, his first order of business was to meet the greatest Filipino athlete of this generation: Manny Pacquiao.

A day after breaking the hearts of basketball-crazy Filipinos, the Dominican Republic superstar humbly walked into Pacquiao's Forbes Park mansion to say hello and narrate his experience facing Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

The meeting — which is already their second — lasted for over an hour with the three-time National Basketball Association All-Star expressing admiration over Pacquiao's braveness and ability to fight Yordenis Ugas of Cuba for 12 rounds in 2021 despite suffering calf injury.

"Me? I just couldn't move," said Towns, narrating how he went through therapy and rehabilitation just to recover from the Grade 3 calf strain that prompted him to miss 52 games last season for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the National Basketball Association.

He added that he had trouble playing against Filipino big men, especially 7-foot-3 Kai Sotto, so he just used his heft and speed to lead the Dominican Republic to an 87-81 victory last Friday at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.

"I could start my offense from the three-point arc and just blow by defenders," said Towns, whose 26 points came from the free throw line after hitting only five of his 16 attempts from the field against the defense of AJ Edu and June Mar Fajardo.

Towns admitted that the Filipinos gave them a scare.

"It was really close and the game could have shifted to the Philippines' side at any moment," he said, adding that Gilas Pilipinas still has a slight chance of advancing in the next round if they play the way they played against them.

 "The Filipino guards were really good and shifty."

With his charismatic boxing style and warm attitude, it is not a surprise that hotshot athletes and other celebrities were coming to see Pacquiao during the course of his boxing career.