Boxer: Gay couples 'worse than animals'

Eight-time world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao has sparked a firestorm of criticism in the Philippines after describing gay couples as "worse than animals".

Nearing the end of a glorious decades-long boxing career, the 37-year-old is reinventing himself as a conservative Bible-bearing politician ahead of the country's May elections, when he is running for a senate seat.

"It's common sense. Do you see animals mating with the same sex? Animals are better because they can distinguish male from female," Pacquiao told local broadcaster TV5 in an interview aired earlier this week.