[i]From yahoo sports[/i]. It's not too often a boxer blasts the President of the United States, but it's also not too common that an active fighter gets elected to Congress. But boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao, a freshman congressman from Sarangani Province in the Philippines, laid into President Obama because of Obama's support for gay marriage. Pacquiao, who defends his World Boxing Organization welterweight title against Timothy Bradley on June 9 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, is a devout Catholic who has brought a spiritual advisor, Pastor Jeric Soriano, with him from the Philippines to Los Angeles. He visited Obama in the Oval Office last year, discussing basketball and boxing with the president. [align=center][img]http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/hKDTPoZBw.RbtbYR.1ky1A--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/sptusboxexperts/Pacquiao-Pastor-630.jpg[/img] Boxer Manny Pacquiao (R) speaks with Pastor Jeric Soriano before a training session (Chris Farina/Top Rank)[/align] In an interview with the National Conservative Examiner, Pacquiao criticized Obama's stance as an attack on the will of God. "God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married, only if they so are in love with each other. "It should not be of the same sex so as to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah of Old." Pacquiao's comments, along with statements in 2011 opposing birth control, put him in line with conservative Republicans and against Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), whom Pacquiao campaigned for during a hotly contested reelection campaign in 2010 against Sharron Angle. Reid may not have won without Pacquiao's late support. Ironically, Reid supports gay marriage and Angle was strongly opposed.

Last edited by bobcbar (2012-05-15 19:14:57)