Filipino world champion Pedro Taduran, who was supposed to make the first defense of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight crown on 23 November, has moved on following its cancellation.

He was booked to face Chinese knockout king Zhu Dianxing in Jeju Island, Korea, but the Vietnam-based Korean promoter encountered sponsorship woes that prompted for the cancellation of the match.

Instead of sulking, Taduran is now keeping his fingers crossed that he will be picked to battle the winner of this Thursday’s unification battle between Oscar Collazo of Puerto Rico and Thammanon Niyomtrong of Thailand in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Collazo is the World Boxing Organization titlist while Niyomtrong is the World Boxing Association ruler.

“I am targeting the winner of this fight,” Taduran said from his homebase in Laguna on the eve of his return to training.

When he was told that the Jeju title defense had been called off, Taduran temporarily left his training camp at the Elorde Sports Complex in Parañaque.

“I took a one week break,” he added.

News of the cancellation came as a shock for Taduran, who had been training since September.

In the event a matchup with the winner of the Collazo vs Niyomtrong duel can’t be made, there is that option of traveling to Mexico, according to his American representative Sean Gibbons.

Given these possibilities, the Bicol-born southpaw will ease back into training mode to ensure that he stays in shape assuming he gets that all-important callup.