Manny Pacquiao has declared his innocence amid a recent cheating scandal surrounding his 2000 fight with Australian Nedal Hussein.
The legendary multiple-weight world champion faced Hussein in his home country of the Philippines at the turn of the millennium. And in a recent interview, referee Carlos Padilla admitted that he had allowed Pacquiao a long count after he was dropped in the fourth round and used other methods to help him get a stoppage win.
However, the boxing legend insists that he had nothing to do with Padilla and what he did or didn't do, declaring that it's "his problem, not mine". He went on to become a multi-millionaire and a superstar with multiple world title belts, while Hussein never made it to such heights and retired to relative obscurity.
“We didn’t cheat," Pacquiao insisted during a bilingual interview with Filipino station TV Patrol about the controversy. "We were just favoured because it was our ‘home court’. As a boxer, I just did what I had to do. I’m just a boxer. I’m just doing my job inside the ring. That’s his problem, not mine.”
Padilla claimed that he was told how important the fight was for Pacquiao beforehand and knew that it would be beneficial for him to help his countryman win. After allowing him considerable time to get up, Padilla also allowed Pacquiao more time when he went down again in the round, taking a point from Hussein for pushing.
And when Pacquiao cut his opponent during a clash of heads, Padilla declared that it had actually come from a punch, meaning that when the doctor stopped the fight, it was declared a TKO win for the home fighter. He admitted it all in a now-deleted interview with the WBC's YouTube channel, causing massive controversy over the past week.
He said: "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'. So, you know the opponent, Hussein, or whatever his name was. He is taller, younger, stronger, and a dirty fighter, managed by Jeff Fenech.
"So in the seventh 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. 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!’
What do you make of this story from early in Manny Pacquiao's career? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
"And then Hussein… Because Manny was not like Manny is now, he wasn’t trained by Freddie Roach yet, he holds on for his dear life, and the guy throws him, and he went down again. I said to the opponent, ‘Hey, you don’t do this.’ You know, I was prolonging the fight. 'You don’t do that. Okay, judges, [point] deduction'."
Hussein has expressed his anger at the situation and says that he is looking into his options with Fenech, who is still his manager despite him retiring years ago. "Honestly, after watching the referee video, it really hit a nerve. I was upset for a full 24 hours,” Hussein told World Boxing News.
"It’s not the fact that he said what he said. It’s more because we already knew it. But the way he said it with a smirk and a smile like he was proud of what he had done, like the depth of corruption, it’s obviously in his veins and his heart. He had obviously done it before because it was nothing to him.
"I have spoken to Jeff Fenech regarding what’s going to happen. We don’t know what’s going to happen, so we will see what plays out. But we knew from the get-go [that something was going awry in the fight]."
