Taduran battles Shigeoka for IBF plum

TOKYO — In a slambang southpaw showdown, Filipino challenger Pedro Taduran attempts to dethrone Japanese puncher Ginjiro Shigeoka in their International Boxing Federation minimumweight title match Sunday night in Otsu City.

During the official weighin on Saturday, both fighters hardly encountered problems with Taduran coming in at 104.3 and Shigeoka tipping in at 104.5.

Taduran is the betting underdog but the Albay native is banking heavily on his volume punching in his quest to deal Shigeoka his first loss in 12 fights.

“I am feeling great,” Taduran said after the pre-fight ritual, adding that Shigeoka was trying to intimidate him during the staredown.

“I just kept my cool,” added the Albay native, who briefly reigned as IBF 105-lb champion before the pandemic struck.

Right after the weighin, Taduran feasted on white steamed rice, grilled chicken and bananas.

Taduran’s shot will come a little over a week after the disastrous campaign of Vincent Astrolabio also here in a bid to wrest the World Boxing Council (WBC) bantamweight crown from Junto Nakatani.

The duel with Shigeoka will only be Taduran’s third fight outside the Philippines.

His two overseas appearances came in Thailand and Mexico.

If Taduran upsets Shigeoka, he will join Melvin Jerusalem, the WBC minimumweight titleholder.

Siblings Marty and Cucuy Elorde serve as co-managers of Taduran with Carl Peñalosa as lead trainer.