CHICAGO - Carlos "Sonny" Padilla, a name from a glorious past, found himself in front of the limelight three days ago when he mistook an interviewer for a priest and confessed a 22-year-old indiscretion.
The decorated referee revealed that he gave an "prolonged count" to help Manny Pacquiao recover from a knockdown and eventually score a 10th-round TKO over Nedal Hussein last October 2000.
After rewatching that fight on YouTube a case can be made that while Padilla may have been slow on the count, it wasn't terribly egregious.
And even if Manny got a little help, it was one that he didn't solicit and therefore frees him from any malfeasance.
In other words, Pacquiao didn't cheat. His legacy is intact. Leave the man alone.
But my sympathies go to Hussein.
Hearing Padilla unearth a buried secret must have felt like peeling the scab of an old wound while having to rethink what heights his career might have reached had he won that fight at the Ynares Sports Center Gym in Antipolo two decades ago.
AS FOR CARLOS PADILLA, WHO SANG LIKE HIS DAUGHTER ZSA-ZSA, I STILL LOVE THE GUY.
He refereed Ali versus Frazier III, a grudge match dubbed the Thrilla in Manila. He was also the third man in the ring in mega fights involving Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Julio Cesar Chavez among many other greats.
His shocking mea culpa doesn't expunge all the good he's done for sports.
Look, we all make mistakes, some more grievous than others. But just like in real life, Padilla should be judged not by one self-diagnosed misstep but by his entire body of work.
People wonder why Padilla, who is 88 years old and 22 years removed from the sport, decided to suddenly disrupt an otherwise happy retirement with an unwanted controversy.
Was it a mere slip of the tongue?
A burst of enthusiasm?
Or, a desire to be in the limelight one more time?
Only he knows why.
My guess is that maybe, just maybe, carrying the weight of an unconfessed sin is such an excruciating ordeal that the only way to ease the burden is to unload it.
CASIMERO BACK IN ACTION.
After a 15-month plus hiatus that stalled his career, John Riel Casimero returns to the ring today in a 10-round date against Ryo Akaho, a former two-time world title challenger, in Incheon, South Korea.
After having trouble making weight at the bantamweight division, Casimero will be campaigning as a super bantamweight this time around and easily made weight at 121.3 pounds.
Casimero is no longer a spring chicken at age 35 but he ain't that old yet, either.
The window is still open. I hope he makes the most out of it.
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