The 37-year-old, a world champion in eight weight divisions, made the comments during an interview with local television station TV5 in the Philippines during their coverage of elections in the country.

Pacquiao is currently running to be a Senator in the country, with the elections scheduled to take place in May.

“It’s common sense, do you see animals mating with the same sex?” the Filipino said.

“Animals are better because they can distinguish male from female.

“If men mate with men and women mate with women they are worse than animals.”

The boxer then posted an apology on Facebook, but stated: “I still stand on my belief that I'm against same-sex marriage because of what the Bible says, but I'm not condemning LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender).”

Despite the apology, Pacquiao, next due to fight in Las Vegas in April, has had his contract with Nike terminated as a result of his comments.

“We find Manny Pacquiao's comments abhorrent," the sportswear giants said.

"Nike strongly opposes discrimination of any kind and has a long history of supporting and standing up for the rights of the LGBT community.

"We no longer have a relationship with Manny Pacquiao."

In December, Britain’s Tyson Fury apologised for comments he made to the Mail on Sunday regarding homosexuality, abortion, paedophilia and devil worshipping.

His statements came in the build-up to his world heavyweight title fight against Ukraine’s Wladimir Klitschko in November, while he was also accused of sexism following comments made about Britain's heptathlon world and Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill.