Pedro Taduran strode into the Centennial Hall of the Manila Hotel on Monday night grinning from ear to ear.

The reigning International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight titlist, one of just two Filipino world boxing champions, added another hardware to his collection by being an awardee for professional boxing by the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) during lavish rites.

He was supposed to take the spotlight alongside Melvin Jerusalem, the other boxing champion, but a conflict in the schedule of the World Boxing Council titleholder prevented him from making the trip.

So Taduran took the spotlight with his co-managers Cucuy and Marty Elorde in attendance as well and the fighter got valuable media exposure as the gathering drew not just the national newspapers but representatives from various television and online entities as well.

Overjoyed by the award from the PSA, Taduran vowed to train even harder as he revs up for the first defense of his title sometime in May in Japan.

Ginjiro Shigeoka, who he soundly beat to win the IBF jewels last July in Otsu City, is the opponent.

“I am honored by this award that the PSA gave so I am using this as a motivation to work harder in training so I will be here for next year’s awarding,” the southpaw Taduran said.

Taduran was supposed to make the initial defense last November in Jeju Island, Korea, but his clash with Chinese knockout artist Zhu Dianxing didn’t materialize as the Vietnam-based Korean promoter reportedly encountered financial woes.