Syrup meets steel might be the simple tag line, but it wouldn't do justice to the unlikely partnership of Canadian singer Dan Hill and boxing star Manny Pacquiao.

As Pacquiao prepares to take on Shane Mosley on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Hill has found himself in his musical corner.

Thanks to the ballad "Sometimes When We Touch," the 56-year-old Hill and 32-year-old Pacquiao have become singing partners and firm friends.

In Hill's words, they've connected.

The boxing champion and Filipino congressman is also a crooner and Hill's 1977 hit remains his favourite. Hill was stunned in November 2009 to see Pacquiao sing his song on "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

The two camps eventually touched base and the singer and boxer found themselves in a Hollywood studio last October.

Their new version of the song will be out in Canada in various forms at the end of the month -- it's been released in many countries already.

There are a half-dozen versions of the song, including dance remakes and a reworking by Toronto producer Boi-1da, a four-minute video of Hill and Pacquiao singing and a half-hour DVD documenting how they got together.

As the spotlight has swung on Pacquiao (52-3-2) in the leadup to his fight, the eight-time world champion has been bringing up Hill and their song.

This week he even started singing in at the pre-fight news conference, with Hill in the audience.

"And then I sang it back at him," Hill said with a giggle.

Media converged on the singer like sharks to chum. There will doubtless be more on hand when the two do a post-fight rendition of "Sometimes When We Touch" at the Mandalay Bay on Saturday night.

Hill, who has been around the musical block a few times, credits journalist-friend Stephen Brunt for the phrasing when he calls it "the most strange and wonderful experience I've ever had in the music business."

He says he's enjoying the ride, but not taking it too seriously.

But he likes the Pacquiao version of his song.

"Because of its hyper-emotionality, you have to be really careful of how you sing it," Hill explained. "If you over-sing it, it's just going to sound like a four-minute soap opera.

"And so what I like about the way Manny sings it is he under-sings it. He doesn't over-sing it. To me pop singing is all about believability. Do you believe what the singer is singing? Is it striking a chord of honesty? And I believe when Manny's singing that song, he totally believes everything that he sang. He sings it earnestly ... and with almost an innocence and a conviction that I find really moving."

Hill says he has grown to respect and admire Pacquiao, marvelling at someone who took up boxing at age 14 to feed his family.

Now a congressman back home in the Philippines, Pacquiao is fighting hunger for his countrymen.

"What I feel is happening with Manny is now he looks at his country as his family and he feels like he has to take care of his country, which is his family. So I think in his mind now he's doing the same thing now as he was doing at 14."

Hill also is amazed at how Pacquiao can focus, noting that the boxer was able to separate himself from the large entourage in the studio when they recorded the song.

"Manny's looking at me and there's no one else in the room," Hill said admiringly. "He is hyper-focused just as he is as a boxer."

Hill knows his signature song -- written at 19 to impress a woman who apparently wanted a smorgasbord of men rather than a diet of just Hill (she eventually left him to go south with a pro football player) -- evokes a wide range of emotions.

But that aside, he says the song -- co-written with Barry Mann --"opened me up to the world.

"It opened me up to write for Celine Dion, it opened me up to write for George Benson, it opened me up to write for Britney Spears, for Backstreet Boys, for Reba McEntire, for Alan Jackson.

"As you know in any business, especially the music business, it's hard to get inside, (it's) very exclusive. That song was my ticket. It opened all the doors for me."

Added Hill: "I could write hit songs until the cows come home and no one's ever going to think of anything except 'Sometimes When We Touch.' But that doesn't bother me, because I know that I can write books, I can write articles, I can write songs.

"That's just the way it is. I'm never going to have another hit that big because I'm going to be 57 in June and there aren't too many 57-year-olds banging out hit songs, muscling out Justin Bieber on the pop charts."

Hill says the song has had five million plays in North America since its 1977 release. A normal hit gets a million plays in the U.S., he says.

He estimates there have been "thousands not hundreds" of covers.

"The song is a phenomenon unto itself, it's an industry unto itself," he said matter-of-factly. "A day doesn't go by that someone doesn't want to use it in a new movie -- like 'Tropic Thunder' where it was used -- or in a commercial or in a TV show -- it's been used on 'The Simpsons,' it's been used on 'That 70's Show -- it is just a force unto itself.

"I don't feel like it's mine anymore. It's just this other thing."

And now it's part of Manny's thing.

He's not the first boxer to like it. (Smokin') Joe Frazier recorded a version because he liked the line: "I'm just another writer, still trapped within my truth, a hesitant prize fighter, still trapped within my youth."

"A lot of boxers have cut that song," Hill said.

But Pacquiao fell in love with the song, not the line.

Others who have covered "Sometimes When We Touch" include Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow, Tammy Wynette, Lynne Anderson, Donny Osmond, Rodney Crowell and Roseanne Cash.

Hill, who is doing his own show Friday night at the Boulder Station Hotel and Casino in Vegas, says he won't be at Saturday's boxing card even though he has two "perfect" tickets.

"Although I know he's a brilliant boxer, I really feel like he's my friend. And I don't think too many of us would like to see our friends in a boxing match."

For Hill, it's just another wondrous stop on his musical journey.

"I honestly believe that the best part of my career is not what I've created, but the people that I've met through my work." he said. "That to me is an amazing blessing.

"I have met the most extraordinary, brilliant ... and yet it seems like the more brilliant they are, the more humble they are."

After Vegas, Hill returns to Toronto for a May 14 show at Koerner Hall. The Bluebird North Toronto All-Star Concert also features Jane Siberry, Suzie McNeil, Melanie Doane and Marc Jordan.