Let’s gooo!: Taduran keeping eyes on the ultimate prize

Pedro Taduran won’t waste his time listening to Puerto Rican two-belt titleholder Oscar Collazo’s loud claims that he is the best in his division.

The reigning International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight titleholder is keeping his options open.

In fact, he will be at ringside early next month in Cebu City when a title elimination match takes place to determine Taduran’s mandatory title challenger.

Filipino Ian Abne and Chinese Zhu Dianxing are locking horns on 9 May at the Cebu Coliseum with the winner earning a shot at Taduran’s IBF 105-pound crown.

Sean Gibbons, the well-connected American dealmaker, insists Taduran will honor a commitment to defend against the survivor of the Abne-Zhu rumble in the event Collazo decides to tap somebody else as an opponent.

Collazo is not making any comments about his next defense pending the result of the 16 Mayshowdown between World Boxing Council champion Melvin Jerusalem and Siyakholwa Kuse in Johannesburg.

The undefeated Collazo, also a southpaw like Taduran, is ranked highly among the world’s top pound-for-pound fighters.

But Gibbons is laughing at his inclusion on the elite list.

“He keeps on saying that he is one of the best pound-for-pound,” said Gibbons.

“But he’s not fighting Pedro Taduran.”

Collazo, hoder of the World Boxing Organization and World Boxing Association straps, is targeting a rematch with Jerusalem, who he had beaten in May 2023.

It is not clear if Collazo would be interested in meeting Kuse in case Jerusalem gets ambushed in South Africa.

But Gibbons makes it clear that Taduran is very much available to battle Collazo.

If Collazo decides to give Taduran a crack at unifying, Gibbons said that the mandatory defense will have to be set aside owing to the universal rule that a unification fight supersedes a mandatory defense.

Meanwhile, Taduran is doing light training just a little over two weeks after stopping Mexican Gustavo Perez Alvarez in Temecula, California.

“Call me when you’re ready to fight me,” Taduran said.