Paging Oscar Collazo: Taduran pushing for unification fight

LAS VEGAS — Trainer Carl Peñalosa admitted that he felt a bit bothered when he saw Pedro Taduran getting struck with fast one-two combinations from Mexican Gustavo Perez Alvarez in their International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight title fight Friday.

“I told myself that if the Mexican gets to do what he did in the first two rounds, Pedro would lose the title,” Peñalosa told DAILY TRIBUNE on Saturday, referring to the action-packed match held at the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California.

Taduran prevented tragedy from happening when he began pounding Alvarez’s body with vicious straights and hooks en route to four knockdowns and finally a stoppage win in the seventh round.

Even Sean Gibbons, who represents Taduran internationally, said he was “a bit concerned” over the strong showing of Alvarez in the opening canto.

“But when Pedro started landing those big shots, I knew the tide would turn in our favor and that’s exactly what happened,” he said.

Making the third defense of the IBF 105-pound title, Taduran was way ahead on all three scoresheets when referee Thomas Taylor pulled the plug on Alvarez’s bid at the 1:34 mark.

“I always knew that I would catch him sooner or later,” said Taduran, whose right eye was puffed up the morning after the victory that upped his win-loss-draw record to 20-4-1 with 14 knockouts.

Still, the 29-year-old volume puncher acknowledged that he got a lot and that he and Peñalosa would work on that in their next training camp.

Meanwhile, Taduran will be at ringside when Mark Magsayo makes his Zuffa Boxing debut at lightweight on Sunday at the Meta APEX against Feargal McCrory of Ireland.

For coming up with another solid performance, Taduran will be rewarded with a two or three-week break by Peñalosa to celebrate his latest win.

“After that, I will be doing some running again. Not exactly the start of training camp but I will make sure that I do not gain too much weight,” said the relentless southpaw from Libon, Albay.

Everyone’s clueless about his immediate future but Gibbons would be knocking on the doors of Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) as early as Monday to inquire about a unification bout with Oscar Collazo.

The Puerto Rican titleholder holds two belts and is aching to become an undisputed champion.

Gibbons said Taduran is willing to step up to the plate, even advising GBP, which runs the affairs of Collazo, to start exploratory talks.

Even Taduran can’t contain himself and is calling out Collazo, who holds the World Boxing Organization and World Boxing Association belts.

“Let’s go. Let’s unify the titles so we can determine who is the best in the division,” he added.

You listening, Oscar?