Senator Pacquiao: Boxer close to Filipino seat

11:26 PM ET

Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, already a two-term congressman in the Philippines, has apparently won a seat in the nation’s senate, his next stop on the way to what many believe will be an eventual run for the presidency.

Pacquiao, who grew up in abject poverty to become one of the most popular and famous people in his country thanks to his historical boxing exploits, has all but sewn up a senate seat following Monday’s national elections. With a little more than 94 percent of the vote counted, Pacquiao was in seventh place with 15,319,491 votes, according to Filipino news site Rappler.com.

The Filipino senate has 24 members with 12 seats up for election every three years. The top 12 vote-getters will be elected to six-year terms, and Pacquiao was nearly 3 million votes ahead of the 12th-place candidate, who had 13,579,603 votes, according to Rappler.com. Pacquiao was running in a field that had about 50 candidates vying for the 24 seats.

Already a two-term congressman, Manny Pacquiao has all but locked up one of 12 available seats in the Filipino senate. John Gurzinski/AFP/Getty Images

The results of the election won’t become official for about a week, but Pacquiao, who has represented his home province of Sarangani in the House of Representatives since 2010, appears on his way to a new job.

Pacquiao (58-6-2, 38 KOs) put on a vintage display in the ring April 9 in Las Vegas, easily outpointing …

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