CONSIDERING the punishment he inflicted on his foe the last time they met, defending International Boxing Federation minimum weight champion Pedro Taduran said he expects Japanese Ginjiro Shigeoka to run away from him when they tangle anew this Saturday in Osaka, Japan.
“I expect Ginjiro to run, he’s not going to go toe-to-toe with me. I am going to chase him,” said Taduran in an article by boxing writer Anson Wainwright posted yesterday on the website of popular American boxing magazine Ring.
Shigeoka has reasons to be wary of the hard-punching Filipino pug, who scored a ninth-round knockout win over the erstwhile reigning title-holder. The Japanese was wheeled out of the Shiga Daihatsu Arena in the Japanese city of Otsu on a stretcher with a broken right eyeball on July 28, 2024.
Shigeoka, 25, absorbed his first defeat after stringing up 11 straight wins, nine of them by knockout, while Taduran, 28, picked up his 17th win, claiming his 13th knockout victim, against four losses and one draw.
The Pinoy slugger said he won’t be overconfident and would defend against his rival’s “uppercut and hook because I was hit the last time. He (Shigeoka) is fast and strong and with good footwork.”
Before they left for Japan last Sunday, Taduran’s trainer, Carl Penalosa, the brother of former world champs Gerry and Dodie Boy Penalosa, said they already had Shigeoka figured out after their initial encounter.
“Basa na namin ang galaw niya (Shigeoka) kaya malamang ma-knockout ‘yung Hapones muli,” said Penalosa of his prized ward, who will be the main undercard of the program of the IBF featherweight title fight between defending American kingpin Leo Angelo and Japanese challenger Tomoki Kameda.
Taduran is one of two Philippine boxing world champions, the other being Melvin Jerusalem, who retained the WBC minimum weight strap last March 30 with a convincing unanimous decision win over Yudai Shigeoka, Jinjiro’s older brother, at the Aichi Sky Expo in the Japanese city of Tokoname.
