GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines — Manny Pacquiao. Congressman in the Republic of the Philippines.

The current WBO welterweight boxing champion and seven-time title holder scored the most personally satisfying win of his life in his birthplace in the country’s national elections early Tuesday morning, soundly defeating a heavily favored candidate, Roy Chiongbian, from an entrenched billionaire clan to win a seat in the Philippines Congress representing the province of Sarangani on the island of Mindanao.

By doing so, Pacquiao, 31, becomes the first professional boxer to hold national public office while still active in the ring. After his victory in the Philippines’ first fully electronic national elections was deemed largely official by early Tuesday morning, Pacquiao felt confident enough to declare victory over Chiongbian, 61.

Earlier, as election results came into his campaign office, the country’s most famous athlete had no doubt.

For, even though the final vote tallies weren’t complete, Pacquiao’s approximately 90,000 votes out of 125,000 registered voters made it mathematically impossible for the boxing hero to lose.

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