Manny Pacquaio is a legend of the boxing world, dominating in the ring on his way to becoming a multiple division world champion and taking part in some of the biggest fights in history, including his iconic showdown with Floyd Mayweather.

On his way to making a name for himself, with a 29-2 record, Pac Man took on the undefeated Nedal Hussein in 2000, with the Australian losing his title shot as well as his perfect record.

The fight was ended in the 10th round when the referee intervened, handing a TKO victory to Pacquaio, although he was down in the fourth round.

Manny Pacquiao helped by referee who cheated in his favour

Carlos Padilla was the referee for the bout and 22 years on has finally admitted he cheated to allow Pacquaio the best chance of winning the bout.

When Pac Man was downed in the fourth round, Padilla has confessed that he allowed the fighter a whopping 18 seconds to come back around after being left dazed on the canvas.

Not only that, but he has also disclosed that he did everything he could to hinder Hussein’s fight, doing everything in his power to make sure that Pacquaio left the ring as the victor, with the Aussie opponent getting that first blemish on his record.

Video: Highlights of Manny Pacquiao vs Nedal Hussein

What has Carlos Padilla said?

When owning up to his mistakes, which included ‘mistaking’ a headbutt for a punch which led to the cut that ended the fight on Hussein, Padilla stated: “Manny was not a world champion yet, he was only good in the Philippines. 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!’ 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'.

Video: Carlos Padilla admits to cheating to help Manny Pacquiao

“Manny is still groaning and then [I said to Pacquiao] 'get up, are you OK?' And then because he is shorter he headbutted the other guy and there is a cut but I declared it a punch. If there is a headbutt you have to stop the fight and declare to the judges a point deduction, but I didn't do that, meaning the fight could continue. [The cut] is not really big - but I never got the doctor to check it [because] I want to see it serious.

“I said 'better knock that guy out Manny, because we may be in trouble', the guy was strong."

Hussein was quick to make his feelings known, posting to his Instagram story, captioning it with: “This putrid dog admitted to cheating me.”

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