the filipino Manny Pacquiaouniversal boxing icon and former senator, He denied on Friday that he cheated in a decisive match in the year 2000after the referee from the country declared that he helped him win the match.
“I didn’t cheat. Probably (the referee) favored me for the home match,” Pacquiao told local news outlet Tv Patrol on Friday, defending himself against allegations by Filipino referee Carlos Padilla that he received help in a fight with Australian Nedal Hussein, played in October 2000 outside of Manila.
Padilla, in an interview published by the World Boxing Council (WBC, in English) last week, admitted that he deliberately favored Pacquiao in that fight by giving him more seconds to recover from a KO, and admitted that he did so because “Many Filipinos are watching the match.”
However, Pacquiao – who later recovered from the knockout and dominated Hussein to win the WBC bantamweight title – rejected the claims, saying that, as a boxer, he just did “what he had to do”.
“I’m a boxer, I’m just doing my job inside the ring. Andso (cheating) is his problem, not mine,” added the 43-year-old Filipino boxer.
The controversial fight is considered the key to Pacquiao’s illustrious career, as it allowed him to defend the bantamweight title twice, as well as change categories and face super bantamweight champion Lehlo Ledwaba in 2001, in a match that would bring him to international fame.
Pacquiao established himself in the world of boxing as the sole winner of twelve world titles in eight different categories and, throughout his career, was champion at flyweight, super bantamweight, featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight and super welterweight.
In 2010, he began joining the political ring after being elected congressman and, six years later, senator, although he finally hung up his gloves last year to devote himself to campaigning for the presidential election in the Philippines, where he won. 3, 6 million votes but was defeated by the current president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Source: La Verdad
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