Fresh from retaining the world title for the second time, Pedro Taduran insists he is not backing down from anyone and he would relish facing compatriot Melvin Jerusalem if he can’t secure a clash with Puerto Rican two-belt titleholder Oscar Collazo.

“If I won’t get the opportunity to face Collazo, I will fight (World Boxing Council champion) Melvin Jerusalem,” said Taduran after outpointing the brave Filipino challenger Christian Balunan on Sunday to keep the International Boxing Federation minimumweight title.

Jerusalem is slated to defend the WBC throne on Wednesday night against South African Siyakholwa Kuse during the golden anniversary of the Thrilla in Manila at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Collazo holds the World Boxing Organization and World Boxing Association jewels and had expressed the desire to unify all belts in 2026.

Sean Gibbons, who promotes Taduran alongside the Elorde siblings Marty and Cucuy, told a handful of reporters that his mission will be to get a deal in place.

“We’ll reach out to (Collazo’s promoter) Golden Boy and do a fight with Pedro because he deserves it. Pedro’s ready,” said Gibbons.

“We gotta concentrate on that (unification fight with Collazo).

“If not, then we’ll get Pedro to the US and fight there. We might even put him in a show for January 31st,” he added, pointing to a potential Manny Pacquiao headliner being targeted on that date.

The latest victory boosted Taduran’s win-loss-draw mark to 19-4-1 with 13 knockouts while the loss was the first in 13 bouts for Balunan, who got rave review from just about everyone, including Taduran and Gibbons.

“He was very tough and I felt his punches, too,” added Taduran.

Gibbons felt that if Taduran didn’t bring his A-game, Balunan could have pulled off a huge upset.

“He just fought a dangerous guy and he’s no joke,” said Gibbons, who staged the show with the full backing of Pacquiao’s MP Promotions and the Elorde family.