[1] He was known as the 'Cyclone of Jerez' and featured heavily, both personally and professionally, in Into The Arena: The World Of The Spanish Bullfight, a shortlisted nominee for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2011.

The author of Into The Arena, Alexander Fiske-Harrison, who had trained as a torero with Padilla and was now a personal friend, accompanied him for British GQ magazine and ended by describing the result of that day's triumphant return: "it is Padilla alone who is swept up to tour the ring on the shoulders of the crowd.

[5] Having announced his intention to retire at the end of the year in 2018, his final tour of the bull rings of Spain was marked with great successes and further injuries.

In July 2018, Padilla lost his footing during a bullfight in Arévalo and fell to the ground after he was struck several times by the bull.

His final corrida was with the bulls of Núñez del Cuvillo in the Feria de El Pilar in Zaragoza, the same ring where he had lost his eye seven years before.