Manny Pacquiao poised to win Philippines Senate election

Manny Pacquiao, who rose from fighting for a few pesos so his mother could afford rice to become a record eight-division boxing world champion, is on the brink of being elected to the Philippines Senate thanks to his pugilistic fame.

Pacquiao, 37, a congressman in the country since 2010, representing the Sarangani province he calls home, stands in eighth place in his country’s national election that will fill 12 new Senate seats.

See the most-read stories in Sports this hour>>

With more than 91% of the votes counted Tuesday in the Philippines, according to Rappler.com, Pacquiao’s 14,952,141 votes are more than two million more than the 13th-place candidate.

Pacquiao balanced his congressional work while participating in major pay-per-view bouts against the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley, training both in the Philippines and Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.

Pacquiao defeated Bradley on April 9 by unanimous decision at MGM Grand in Las Vegas to close their trilogy, and announced afterward he was retiring from the sport to begin a life of public service.

It is believed Pacquiao will make a run at the Philippines presidency when his six-year Senate run is complete.

Tough-talking Rodrigo Duterte, mayor of the country’s southern city, Davao, was elected president after running on a platform of combating crime and corruption.

Pacquiao, who cast his vote in Sarangani, has been strongly in position to win one of the Senate seats throughout.

His support shrank after his February comments on a Philippines television interview in which he said homosexual intercourse made man “worse than animals,” but ultimately apologized, saying only God can judge while repeating that he “condemns the act.”

Pacquiao’s Senate commitments in Manila are expected to be far more taxing than his work in the House of Representatives.

Yet there continues to be speculation Pacquiao could return to the ring should talks for a rematch with Mayweather warm. Pacquiao earned about $150 million from their May 2, 2015, bout that became the best-selling pay-per-view fight of all time (4.6 million buys) and generated more than $600 million.

Mayweather, 39, is also retired, but he said last month he could be lured to return for a “nine-figure” purse, which a rematch with Pacquiao would likely generate. In their first bout, Pacquiao suffered a pre-fight right shoulder injury in training camp, then said he aggravated it in the fourth round, resulting in a muted effort afterward.

Follow Lance Pugmire on Twitter @latimespugmire