SPYWATCHERS: Chinese challenger fears Filipino ‘spies’

Apart from his trainers, there are no other Filipinos inside the training facility of Chinese knockout king Zhu Dianxing at the Jianxi Pro Combat Academy in Shenzhen.

Tasked to sharpen up Zhu are Rodel Orais and Jing Jing Tepora, who would be present when their ward challenges defending champion Pedro Taduran for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight crown on 23 November in Jeju Island, Korea.

In fact, even Zhu’s sparring partners are Chinese as his team expressed fears that importing Filipino fighters to help out in training could backfire.

“All his sparring partners are Chinese,” Orais said, stressing that bringing in Filipino sparmates could eventually work against their bread-and-butter.

Although they didn’t exactly say that they could serve as spies, they nonetheless didn’t rule out the possibility by sticking to Chinese sparmates.

Zhu’s team is arriving in Jeju, an island that is 100 kilometers south of the Korean mainland, on 18 October.

Taduran and his chief trainer Carl Peñalosa Jr. are planning to get there a full week before the scheduled 12-rounder at the Maison Glad.

His handlers — Elorde siblings Marty and Cucuy — are following a few days later and Sean Gibbons, Taduran’s American representative, is following as well to cheer for the only Filipino world champion other than Melvin Jerusalem, the World Boxing Council titlist also in the 105-lb category.

Taduran had regained the IBF throne in late July with a sensational ninth-round stoppage of erstwhile unbeaten Ginjiro Shigeoka in Otsu City, Japan.

He had previously held the IBF title just before Covid and held onto it until February 2021 when he lost to Rene Mark Cuarto, also a Filipino.

Taduran is training at the Elorde Sports Center in Parañaque where he will be based until his departure for Korea.