FIFTY years later, a central figure in the iconic ‘Thrilla in Manila’ remains with us and continues to tell the story.
Of course, he just so happened to be the third man in the ring in the heavyweight bout between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
Now 91 years old, Carlos ‘Sonny’ Padilla Jr. no longer possesses the same strength and agility that once made him one of the most sought-after boxing referees of his time.
But he maintains a mind sharp enough to remember every chapter and page of that memorable Oct. 1 1975 title fight between legends Ali and Frazier at the sweltering Araneta Coliseum.
Both Ali and Frazier had long been gone, but Padilla is still around and a living testament to the kind of battle waged by both fighters in a bout described as the greatest heavyweight title fight ever in the book ‘Once There Were Giants: The Golden Age of Heavyweight Boxing’ by Hall of Famer sports journalist Jerry Izenberg.
“Ako ang buhay na third man in the ring. Lalo ngayon, patay na ang lahat. Ako na lang buhay,” shared Padilla when SPIN.ph contributing photographer Jhay Otamias visited him in his home in Las Vegas, where he and family have been based since 1977.
"At saka ako, kung paano ako i-address ng mga tao sa Pilipinas, ‘Ay, si ‘Thrilla in Manila.'' Hindi Sonny. E lalo ngayon patay na ang lahat. Ako na lang ang buhay. Kaya ako ang ‘Thrilla in Manila.’
"Ako ang simbolo ng 'Thrilla in Manila.'”
Father of well-known singer and actress Zsa-Zsa Padilla, the retired referee and former actor will be coming home later this month to commemorate and join the golden anniversary of one of boxing’s immortal fights.
Filipino boxing great Manny Pacquiao, one of the prime movers of the event, extended his invitation for Padilla to come back home.
Padilla post-'Thrilla'
Hands down, the third and final installment of the Ali-Frazier rivalry catapulted Padilla to the boxing spotlight, as he went on to officiate numerous high-profile matches in the succeeding years of his career as a referee that spanned more than two decades.
Padilla recounted he wasn’t actually on the list of referees being considered for the fight, as then included were Zach Clayton, Arthur Mercante, and Harry Gibbs.
In the same book authored by Izenberg – and with a foreword written by Pacquiao – the late Eddie Futch, the eminent trainer of Frazier, didn’t want any of the three to serve as the third man in the ring.
He specifically singled out Clayton, who Futch claimed was rooting for Ali at ringside during one of his fights.
“If it’s Clayton, there’s no fight,” Futch insisted.
Frazier’s trainer, it turned out, had a private meeting with then-Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and former Games and Amusements Board Chairman Louis Tabuena and aired his concerns regarding the selection of the referee.
“They claim a local ref would be too little to separate big men like Joe and Muhammad if they held,” Futch was quoted in the book. “Well, I don’t care if they choose a 60-pound dwarf. It ain’t gonna be Zack Clayton.”
As recalled by Padilla, he wasn’t notified about the life-changing job by Tabuena until a few hours before the fight shortly after he arrived at the Big Dome.
The bout marked the first time Padilla worked a world title fight. It was also the first time he officiated a weight class higher than lightweight.
But the Filipino approached the job with decency and class, at one point even giving Ali a warning for incessantly holding the back of Frazier's neck.
A short excerpt from the book described how the 5-foot-8, then-41-year-old Padilla looked in the ring in between two gigantic fighters.
“He looked to be the biggest Filipino this side of Roman Gabriel, the old Los Angeles Rams quarterback. No referee had ever had a more difficult task.”
Ali won by TKO the drama-filled, back-and-forth fight after Futch felt Frazier, with both eyes badly swollen, had enough and refused to let him come out for the 15th and final round.
‘The Greatest’ later referred to the fight as ‘the closest thing to dying.’
But amid the hoopla generated from the outcome of the bout, Padilla also had his moment, getting a pat on the back for a job well done supervising the immortal fight in Manila.
“After the fight, both fighters said Padilla had done a spectacular job,” Izenberg said in his book.
That opened the door for the Filipino referee to work on more marquee matches later on, including Duran vs. Leonard 1, Hearns vs. Duran, Tyson vs. Thomas, Leonard vs. Benitez, Sanchez vs. Gomez, Chaves vs. Castillo, and a whole lot more.
In all, he worked on 74 world title fights.
“Karangalan ng ating bansa. Puhunan ko, dugo’t pawis,” said Padilla in sharing his thoughts on what the epic fight meant for himself, the country, and boxing history in general.
Padilla has been inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame and a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Philippine Sportswriters Association.
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