Taduran stuns Japanese champ to regain IBF minimumweight title

SAITAMA, Japan – In the same night when Manny Pacquiao had a tougher than expected outing, it was another Filipino boxer who shone the brightest in the same country.

A relentless Pedro Taduran stopped Japanese Ginjiro Shigeoka in the ninth round to take the latter’s International Boxing Federation minimumweight belt at the Shiga Daihatsu Arena in Otsu City on Sunday.

Taduran applied his pressure-fighting style to break down the previously unbeaten Shigeoka (now 11-1, with 9 KOs) and regain the title he first won in 2019.

Referee Steve Willis halted the bout with 10 seconds left in the ninth canto as Taduran forced the reigning champion to the ropes and landed several unanswered blows.

The 27-year-old Taduran (now 17-4-1, with 13 KOs) thus became the Philippines’ second active world champion after fellow minimumweight Melvin Jerusalem, who holds the WBO version of the title.

His win came shortly before Pacquiao took the ring against Rukiya Anpo in a three-round exhibition fight at the Saitama Super Arena here — a bout that automatically ended in a draw because of the absence of a knockout.