Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao said yesterday that he doubts whether retired boxing referee Carlos Padilla rigged his wild October 2000 brawl with Lebanese-Australian Nedal Hussein after the Thrilla in Manila claimed in a video interview that he helped the Filipino fighter win the fight.
Pacquiao said in a television interview that Padilla actually did right in admonishing the rugged Hussein, who kept on using dirty tactics during their scheduled 12-rounder at the Ynares Sports Center in Antipolo.
Padilla, who has been living in the United States for decades, said that he gave Pacquiao a long count so he could recover his wits after getting knocked down in the fourth round.
When Padilla asked ring physician Nasser Cruz to check on a cut on Hussein’s left eyebrow, the 88-year-old Thrilla in Manila referee said it was an opportunity for him to wash his hands from the mess that he himself created.
Cruz called a halt to the contest shortly after examining the wound, allowing Padilla the luxury of not being blamed for what the camp of Hussein said was a bad stoppage in the tenth round.
“There was nothing wrong in the officiating because the referee did what he had to do,” Pacquiao said in Pilipino, stressing that Hussein wasn’t obeying Padilla’s instructions and instead appeared determined to resume his roughhousing ways.
Still, he admitted he wasn’t so sure if Padilla made a slow count but the video (which is available online) can be reviewed, Pacquiao said.
“I was just doing my job as a boxer,” Pacquiao, who turns 44 on 17 December, added.
While the general public raised a howl over Padilla’s explosive revelation, the local boxing community remained cool, calm and collected.
Two-division champion Gerry Peñalosa, who was at ringside, said what happened during the fight typical in boxing.
“That happens in boxing and we have seen worse (officiating) than what took place during that fight,” Peñalosa said.
But what Peñalosa, a close friend of Pacquiao, could not understand was why Padilla had to say those things.
“That was just unnecessary,” Peñalosa said.
