The face of ‘Thrilla’

Carlos “Sonny” Padilla, who played a pivotal role in making the Thrilla in Manila an epic slugfest in 1975, is arriving in Manila on 26 October to join in the golden anniversary celebration of the event.

Padilla will be joined by her daughter Catherine Padilla Tuano in the United Airlines flight that will touch down at Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at around 7 a.m.

Now 91, Padilla was 41 years old when he served as the third man on the ring for the Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier world heavyweight title fight held on the morning of 1 October at the Araneta Coliseum.

The 50th year celebration will be highlighted by a night of championship boxing on 29 October at the Big Dome being staged by Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions, Blow-By-Blow and the Araneta Group of Companies.

A former movie actor, Padilla only knew about refereeing the Thrilla on the day of the fight after Malacañang ordered that a Filipino third man should work the bout.

Three referee had been brought in by the promoters: Zach Clayton, Harry Gibbs and Jay Edson.

Frazier’s camp had issues with Clayton and the Games and Amusements Board later followed a directive to instead appoint a local referee to show the world that the Philippines had some of the best officials in the world.

Padilla would do a terrific job handling the two giants by preventing Ali from grabbing Frazier’s neck.

It resulted in Frazier and Ali trading power shots at such an incredible frequency that it became one of boxing’s greatest fights of all time.

For his masterful officiating, Padilla, who used to be an actor, would become a sought-after referee shortly after.

After the Thrilla, Padilla found himself getting appointed to referee a number of super fights.

He was the referee during the first Sugar Ray Leonard vs Roberto Duran Brawl at Montreal in 1980.

When Mexican featherweight Salvador Sanchez battled Puerto Rican super-bantamweight Wilfredo Gomez in Las Vegas in 1981, he was also the referee.

Other marquee names he got himself involved with as referee were fights starring Mike Tyson, Larry Holmes, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns.

During his final days as an official, he worked Pacquiao’s wild brawl with Nedal Hussein 25 years ago in Antipolo.