Westlife's Nicky Byrne happy just to shake Pacman's hand

Irish pop band "Westlife's" Nicky Byrne is so excited to meet Philippine boxing icon and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao that he told GMA News Online, "I would be grateful to just shake his hand and get a photo."

Westlife is in the Philippines for their "Gravity Tour 2011" concert at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City on Thursday. This is the band's fourth concert in the country so far.

Byrne, the oldest Westlife member at 32 years old, made quite a noise among Filipino fans on Twitter not just because of their concert but also because of his public singing invitations to Pacquiao.

A week before Westlife's visit to Manila, Byrne (@nickybyrneoffic), on Twitter, invited Pacquiao to sing with the band.

Byrne tweeted: "@MannyPacquiao Hey Manny, Nicky from Westlife here we doing a show in Manila soon, heard you singing one of our songs in the past, duet soon!"

Pacman responded to Byrne through GMA News reporter Mark Zambrano who was covering his training in Baguio, saying he was open to performing with the band.

Shortly after GMA News put Pacquiao’s response on the Twitter news feed, reactions poured online, making it the most popular tweet that day.

Byrne quickly replied to GMA News on Twitter: “Gonna be amazing! Can I spar with him too?"

Hours later, he sent another tweet: “Hey guys will need to get in touch with Manny’s camp to organize performance if he’s really up for it? Let me know how. Thx N"

Even the fans started sending tweets, begging to help Byrne's sincere and determined request for a duet with Pacquiao.

A few message exchanges later, while Byrne was with the band in Hong Kong as part of their Asian tour, he reached Pacquiao’s camp.