MANILA – Filipino boxer Pedro Taduran reclaimed the IBF minimumweight championship after a ninth-round technical knockout win over Japanese Ginjiro Shigeoka on Sunday night at the Shiga Daihatsu Arena in Otsu, Japan.
This was the second time that the Libon, Albay-native has captured the said world title after claiming it with a fourth-round technical decision win over fellow Filipino Samuel Salva in 2019.
The 27-year-old Taduran overcame some early difficulties but Shigeoka suffered damage to his right eye in the fourth and the Japanese star couldn’t cope with the pressure coming his way.
Taduran, the second active Filipino world champion aside from WBC minimumweight holder Melvin Jerusalem, swarmed Shigeoka the rest of the way before stopping the Japanese in the ninth round.
With the victory, Taduran improved his record to 17-4-1, with 13 victories by way of stoppages, while Shigeoka fell to 11-1-0 win-loss-draw card, including nine stoppage wins.
PACQUIAO, ANPO SETTLE FOR DRAW
Over at the nearby Saitama Super Arena, Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao settled for a draw against his taller and younger opponent Rukiya Anpo in a three-round exhibition match.
Anpo, a 6-footer former K1 champion, capitalized early, using his longer reach stunning the 45-year-old Pacquiao with his left hooks couple of times.
But Pacquiao rallied in the latter part of the match, engaging the Japanese in an entertaining exchange. Since no one got knocked out, the exhibition bout resulted in a draw.
“This is my first time boxing… I’m very inspired and very grateful that fans cheered for me,” Anpo said in a post-game interview. “Thank you very much for enjoying the show.”
“Anpo is strong he fought good, he fought well. he did his best to give this fight tonight,” Pacquiao said. “I’d like to thank God for this fight tonight. I’d like to thank all the Japanese fans for watching the fight. I hope this won’t be the last.”/PN
