A few months back, the whole world was with Manny Pacquiao as he stepped into the ring with fellow boxer Floyd Mayweather as the only hope who could shut up the egoistic American and destroy his unblemished record. 

Mayweather beat him, and upped his record to 49-0. Pacquiao it turned out, had fought with a bad shoulder, but he still had the respect of the sporting world for trying to take the fight to the ultra-defensive Mayweather.

His rags to riches story was inspiring as well.

Now comes the twist though. The eight-time world champions is running for a seat in the Philippine senate and was quoted as saying on local news channel TV5:

 “Do you see animals mating with the same sex? Animals are better because they can distinguish male from female. If men mate with men and women mate with women they are worse than animals.”

Popular Filipino singer and song-writer Aiza Seguerra was quoted in a Guardian report as saying: “You might have done our country proud but with your statement, you just showed the whole country why we shouldn’t vote for you.”

She also added that he was an “ignorant, bigoted hypocrite”.

The boxer posted this apology on Twitter after the backlash: 

“I’m sorry for everyone who got hurt due to my comparison of gay people (homosexuals) to animals,” he said. “It was my mistake. Please forgive me for those who I’ve hurt. But this does not change my position against same sex marriage. That’s what I believe. My only mistake is comparing gay people to animals.”

Before apologising though, Pacquiao had posted a photo on Instagram clarifying his thoughts: