Even in the absence of a signed contract, International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight champion Pedro Taduran has been sent to the United States to hold camp.
A day after New Year’s Day, Taduran took a Philippine Airlines flight to Los Angeles as efforts were underway for him to face Puerto Rican two-belt titleholder Oscar Collazo sometime in March in a unification clash.
Collazo holds the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and World Boxing Association (WBA) 105-pound straps while also recognized by The Ring magazine as its top dog in the division.
Taduran, who whipped compatriot Christian Balunan last October for the second defense of the crown, flew to the United States solo.
His chief trainer Carl Peñalosa Jr. will follow as soon as a fight contract gets signed by both parties.
Golden Boy Promotions (GBP), owned by Oscar De La Hoya, is representing Collazo and is eyeing to hold the fight in Puerto Rico.
Well-connected American dealmaker Sean Gibbons handles Taduran, whose co-managers Marty and Cucuy Elorde, are keeping their fingers crossed that a deal is put in place soon.
Gibbons had expressed the desire to get Taduran to America the soonest so he can acclimatize right away.
The Elordes said that Taduran will be picked up from Los Angeles’s Tom Bradley Terminal and will be driven to Las Vegas where he will hold the entire camp for the mouthwatering Collazo showdown.
Parading a 19-4-1 win-loss-draw record with 13 knockouts, Taduran had won the IBF championship for the second time by halting Ginjiro Shigeoka in July 2024.
In a rematch in May last year in Osaka, Taduran scored a 12-round unanimous decision that sent Shigeoka straight to the hospital.
Shigeoka has been forcibly retired by the Japan Boxing Commission as the left side of his body is paralyzed.
Collazo, a southpaw like Taduran and holder of an unbeaten mark of 13-0-0 with ten knockouts, last fought in September in Indio, California, where he defeated Filipino Jayson Vayson.
In the event the Taduran fight happens, Collazo will be facing off with his fifth Filipino opponent after Vayson, Garren Diagan, Vic Saludar and Melvin Jerusalem, now the reigning World Boxing Council titlist.