Just saw the replay of this fight and Pedro Taduran showed poise, stucked to the game plan and stopped the reigning champion Ginjiro Shigeoka in the 9th round.
For a 105-pound fighter, he looks naturally big for this division. He traded bombs with the equally strong Japanese champion who had an impressive record of 11 wins, 9 by KOs prior to his defeat. The Filipino fighter upped his record to 17 wins, 14 by KOs with 4 losses.
At the start of the match, the two boxers looked equally matched but by the mid rounds, it was evident that the challenger's punches had done more damage to the champ. Taduran's game plan looked solid as he furled combos to the body and head while not being so eagerly aggressive and kept his defense up. The fight should have been stopped around the 7th or the 8th. I think it was unnecessary damage and we hope the former champ can recover from this and still fight for championships in the future!
With two Filipino champions in this division, the new IBF king Pedro Taduran joins WBC topdog Melvin Jerusalem, Philippine boxing looks to be relevant again.
rb28
