Filipinos as Infamous Cheaters

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Many Filipinos have been scandalized about the cheating bravado of international renowned boxing referee Carlos “Sonny” Padilla on the match of the then unheralded Manny Pacquiao and Australian Nedal Hussein as shown on his video interview. This was a day before his August 2022 induction at the iconic Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame in the United States. The Fame honors those individuals for their efforts, achievements, and contributions to one of the Americans favorite pastimes.

BELEAGUERED retired international boxing referee Carlos "Sonny" Padilla in his recent induction to the renowned Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame. Padilla - a former actor - stirred a hornet nest in the world of boxing when he told the interviewer in a social media's Q&A a day before his induction that he cheated twice to see fellow Filipino Manny Pacquiao won against Australian Nedal Hussein for the international WBC Super Bantamweight's tilt.

I first saw Padilla in boob tube when he refereed the classic boxing rubber match or third fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier dubbed Thrilla in Manila held in October 1, 1975 at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. It was for the heavyweight championship of the world.

The collision between these two mammoth personalities of the heavyweight was death defying. Padilla stopped the brutal fisticuff in the 14^th Round because the still gung-ho Frazier could no longer see in his both swollen eyes due to the punches of Ali.

Louisville Lip’s Ali nearly gave up, too, on that merciless slugfest.

"It was like death. Closest thing to dyin' that I know of," the battle scarred pugilist said later of the hell he and Frazier fought amid the Philippines' scorching daytime 125 degree Celsius aggravated by the heat emitted from the bodies of the sea of humanity in the coliseum that overpowered the air conditioning system.

Padilla's fortune shined on that marquee fight because it was watched by one billion viewers around the world.

When Padilla - the actor-father of actress Zsa Zsa Padilla – met World Boxing Council’s President Jose Sulaimán in a confab held in the U.S, the latter told him he was impressed about his performance in the Thrilla in Manila. From thereon there was no turning back to the fame of the son of Philippines Olympic pug Carlos Padilla, Sr.

He became the third man in the high-profile classic global boxing matches like those of Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Durán - 1, Thomas Hearns vs. Roberto Durán, Julio César Chávez vs. Ruben Castillo and Salvador Sánchez vs. Wilfredo Gómez. He refereed his final bout on October 14, 2000, between Manny Pacquiao and Nedal Hussein in the Philippines. This fight would haunt him and his family 22 years later.

In his interview uploaded by the WBC last October 6 in YouTube, the animated retired Ref answered the posers of the interviewer’s WBC President José Sulaimán Chagnón - the son of  Jose Sulaimán.

He described Hussein as tall, younger, stronger, and a dirty pug. In the fourth round he knocked down Pacquiao who could not get up immediately as his eyes crossed (naduling in the vernacular).

 The 88 years old Padilla, whose blabber could be at the league of Gen. George “faux pas” Patton, 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 proudly told the interviewer.

The Ref –  the grand dad of prolific actresses Karylle and Zia Quizon -  ordered a point deducted from Hussein for pushing Pacquiao to the floor since he felt the Pinoy fighter had no chance to brawl until the end of the 12^th Round.

Padilla declared Pacquiao's head butt on Hussein as a legal punch. The mestizo looking Ref initially did not let the doctor take a closer look at the cut because he said it was not serious.

“When the doctor was approaching (Padilla’s moved sideways his left lower lip as signal to stop the fight) hahaha!” he said on the later round.

The doctor sensed what he meant examine the cut to the head of the Aussie and signaled to the public the end of the match on the tenth round.

Hussein, a salesman now, in a statement in the social media called the WBC to take action on the case.

"They should be held accountable for the sport we love," he wrote on Instagram.

With that bombshell that could taint all his feats in boxing, Padilla and the Doctor should be condemned and reprimanded on their chicanery. The Hall of Fame should strip off its conferment with the beleaguered Ref. The offense he committed could not only ruin him and his family but the entire Filipino nation inhabited by miscreants and knaves who were notorious in not only cheating in countless public posts held in an election but in the beauty and baseball tilts  as shown by the Manila Films Festival’s scandal in 1994 where the winners were rigged by celluloid screen personalities like Lolit Solis, Ruffa Gutierrez, and Gabby Concepcion and the cheating by Filipino officials that saw baseball players from Zamboanga won the championship against the athletes from Long Beach, California in the Little League World Series held in Aug. 29, 1992 in the United States. Two of the excerpts from the prestigious Washington Post said:

“It turned out that only six of the 14 team members came from Zamboanga. Philippine Little League officials had substituted eight ineligible players, plus an ineligible manager and coach, from other places across the Philippines to create an all-star national team in violation of Little League tournament rules”.

“There were also allegations -- so far unproved -- that some of the players were over the age limit for Little League. The tournament requires players to be under 13 on Aug. 1”.

  These rigging brouhahas were widely covered by international media at the expense of the reputation of us Flips, er, Filipinos. And now here comes Sonny Padilla shooting himself on the foot with his big mouth, salamabit!