He acquired a rusty York barbell, as a hand-me-down from his brother Ray, and quickly set about to become Mr. America.
It wasn’t long before he was absolutely smitten with the iron game and training a full seven days a week.
Padilla then entered the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) World Championships in the lightweight division.
After the show, the judges were “kind” enough to inform him that, in their studied opinion, he had a great physique but, at 5' 2" tall, was much too short to compete.
Weider introduced himself to the "kid from Rochester" backstage at the contest, telling Padilla that he had a great physique and that he could do very well in the sport.
The IFBB decided that they’d rather have two heavyweights represent the United States - Ken Waller and Mike Katz - and one middleweight, Robby Robinson.
After all of his pre-contest preparation, travel to South Africa and hours of participation in the filming of the movie, he would try to take home the title, even under Portugal’s flag.
Padilla was disqualified by them in order to avoid what they perceived as the “embarrassment” that his potential win for Portugal would cause the organization.
Bouncing back the following year, Padilla competed in the IFBB Universe, but was defeated by Mohamed Makkawy.