Ex-Referee Carlos Padilla Admits Cheating to Help Pacquiao Win

Ex-Referee Carlos Padilla Admits Cheating, Helping Manny Pacquiao Win in 2000

Former boxing referee Carlos Padilla admitted his cheating to help boxing legend Manny Pacquiao win his fight in 2000.

For the first time in his career, Hall of Fame Filipino boxing referee Carlos Padilla acknowledged making one of the most contentious choices. The aforementioned action by Padilla is only one of the many factors that make Manny Pacquiao, the sole eight-division boxing world champion, so revered worldwide.

In an interview with him for the World Boxing Council, Padilla said that during his fight with Nedal Hussein in 2000, he purposefully prolonged the count to the overturned Pacquiao. To give the “pambansang kamao” time to stand up and recover, he adjusted the count from the supposed 10 seconds to 18 seconds.

Because of Padilla’s dishonesty, Pacquiao was able to TKO Hussein in the tenth round. Padilla claims that Pacquiao had the chance to compete against a world champion because of the aforementioned fight.

“That fight, I’m about to go and leave the following day, and they told me, ‘Carlos, please this is an important fight for Pacquiao because the winner will have the chance to fight for the world championship,” said the retired boxing referee.

Instead, Padilla complied with his request and granted Pacquiao permission by repeatedly pleading with him to give the national boxer some time to heal. Based on the report, he claimed that Manny appeared to have little chance of recovering after being knocked out in the fight’s fourth round.

“I think (it was the fourth round), Manny got knocked down, I thought he was going to get up, but his eyes were cross-eyed,”he said.

“I am Filipino and everybody watching the fight is Filipino, so I prolonged the count. I know how to do it. When he got up, I told him, ‘Hey are you okay?’ Still prolonging the fight. ‘Are you okay?’ ‘Okay, fight!” he added.

Padilla, who officiated the “Thrilla in Manila” fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, reportedly acknowledged that Pacquiao’s headbutt was to blame for the cut. Padilla ended the fight as a technical knockout victory for Pacquiao rather than awarding a point deduction to the champion due to the cut.

Hussein has already spoken out against the referee who altered the path of his professional career after hearing Padilla’s surprising confession. Many online users think Pacquiao might not have realized his dream of winning the world championship if Padilla had not made the contentious choice.

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