Manny Pacquiao announced his retirement from boxing to focus on politics, but the ‘people’s champ’ running for President is controversial, to say the least
Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao announced his official retirement from the sport on Wednesday, hanging up his gloves after 26 years with 12 world titles in an unmatched eight different divisions.
To the greatest fans and the greatest sport in the world, thank you! Thank you for all the wonderful memories. This is the hardest decision I’ve ever made, but I’m at peace with it. Chase your dreams, work hard, and watch what happens. Good bye boxing. https://t.co/Bde4wO82sA
— Manny Pacquiao (@MannyPacquiao) September 29, 2021
‘PacMan’, 42, has been competing as a professional boxer since 1995 but as time has gone on, the household sporting name and Filipino hero has shifted his focus from pugilism to politics, becoming a senator in 2016 and now wants to become the President of the Philippines.
While many see his rise to fame as an empowering ‘rags to riches‘ tale, it’s hard to ignore the fighter’s many offensive attitudes and opinions.
Here are a few that should put his political career on the ropes.
He described gay people as “worse than animals”
Pacquiao’s views on homosexuality and the LGBTQ+ community are infamous. In February 2016, the same year he entered the political arena, Pacquiao said that gay people were “abhorrent” and “worse than animals” on national TV, invoking the Bible in what is a staunchly Catholic country.
Despite a backlash that led to him being dropped by Nike, Pacquiao doubled down and went on to post a religious passage on Instagram that read: “They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” The post has now been deleted, and he apologised to the LGBTQ+ community, but has since insisted he’s still against same-sex marriage.
And he’s opposed to birth control
Pacquiao’s religious upbringing factors into a lot of his socio-political identity and as one of six children, he came out against a bill to subsidise contraception in order to make it more available across the Philippines, which has one of the highest birth rates in Asia.
Meeting with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in his home country, Pacquiao remarked that he would never have been born and gone on to become the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter had his parents used birth control, adding: “God said go forth and multiply”.
Then there’s his relationship with Rodrigo Duterte
Pacquiao’s relationship with current Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte has also raised eyebrows. The pair have been firm friends over the years and Duterte was part of the reason Pacquiao got into politics in the first place. But the 76-year-old leader isn’t exactly squeaky clean.
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Credit: Getty – Philippine President Rodrigo DuterteAside from his own admission that he sexually assaulted his housemaid, Duterte is most notably accused of directly killing around 4,000 drug suspects via his ‘death squads’. It is estimated that his war on drugs has led to around 12,000 deaths in total. Pacquiao and Duterte have fallen out in recent months, with Pacquiao being ousted from the ruling party in July, but the fighter’s ties with Duterte will be a lingering concern for many.
Like, Duterte, Pacquiao thinks those mixed-up with drugs should get the death penalty
Despite the fact Pacquiao admitted to using various drugs including cocaine and methamphetamine “for years”, he is very much against other people doing the same. In 2017, Pacquiao advocated the need to reimpose the death penalty in drugs cases. The comments were regarding drug traffickers, specifically, but he did suggest capital punishment should be brought back in for all drug-related cases, once again citing his faith by adding: “Even Jesus Christ was sentenced to death”.
And kids should be treated as criminals
Following on from his comments regarding capital punishment and drug traffickers, Pacquiao – who famously grew up on the streets of Kibawe – suggested that the age of criminal responsibility should be lowered to 12 years old.
For added context, under his recommendation, anyone under the age of 12 could not only face time in prison but, depending on the severity of their crime (especially if drug-related), could even face the death penalty.
Pacquiao may well be a sporting hero and a national icon, but he earned that – one fight at a time.
In politics, he must do the same.
