Pacquiao believes referee Carlos Padilla made right actions in 2000 fight vs. Hussein

For Manny Pacquiao, referee Carlos Padilla made the right actions in his fight against Australian Nedal Hussein back in 2000.

The fight was put to the limelight again after Padilla revealed in an interview that he made favorable actions towards Pacquiao in the said fight.

In a "24 Oras report" on Wednesday, Pacquiao said he reviewed the video and believes Padilla made the right actions when he was brought down by Hussein.

"Si Nedal Hussein, ayaw niya makinig sa referee. Doon siya naka-focus sa akin, nakatingin sa akin. Karapatan ng referee na kunin atensyon ng isang boksingero para makinig sa kanya," Pacquiao said.

("Nedal Hussein was not listening to the referee. He was focused on me, he was looking at me. The referee has the right to get the attention of a boxer to listen to him.")

The eight-division champ also said he did not do a headbutt on Hussein and insisted that the latter's wound was from an uppercut. Pacquiao also believes Hussein's request to declare the fight as a "no contest" is not feasible.

"Tama naman ginawa niya (Padilla). Hindi ko lang alam kung 'yung count niya kung tama ba yun. May video naman yan eh," said Pacquiao. "I'm just doing my part as a boxer. Sa tingin ko, okay naman ginawa niya. Di naman maitago 'yun kasi may video naman 'yun eh."

("His actions were correct. I'm just not sure about the count if that was correct. There's a video of that. I'm just doing my part as a boxer. I think what he did was OK. You can't hide that because there's a video of that.")

"Tama naman 'yung ginawa ng referee. Hindi ko lang alam kung bakit nagsalita siya ng ganon."

("What the referee did was right. I'm not sure why he spoke like that.")

Hussein said Padilla should be held accountable for his actions and called on the World Boxing Council to declare the fight as a no contest.

—Justin Kenneth Carandang/MGP, GMA Integrated News