By NICK GIONGCO
In this file photo dated September 7, 2019,, Pedro Taduran celebrates after defeating Samuel Salva to bag the IBF minimumweight title at Juardo Hall, Bonifacio Naval Station in Taguig. (MB Photo / Rio Deluvio, File)
Filipino champion Pedro Taduran didn’t waste time in whipping himself into form when he worked out just hours after arriving in Mexico on Sunday.
Taduran makes the first defense of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) mini-flyweight against Daniel Valladares on Feb 1 in the city of Nuevo Leon.
The boxer’s team left Manila on Saturday morning and upon landing in Mexico, the 23-year-old he went to the gym where he skipped rope and ran on the treadmill as his lead trainer Tacy Macalos, a former world champion, watched his every move.
Taduran had won the IBF 105-lb crown last September, stopping fellow Filipino Samuel Salva in four rounds.
One of just four reigning Filipino world champions apart from
Manny Pacquiao, Jerwin Ancajas and Johnriel Casimero, Taduran faces a livewire foe in Valladares, whose top victim is the previously unbeaten Filipino Christian Araneta.
But Art Monis, the champion’s chief handler insists that his ward is more than ready to bring the title back.
“Tiwala ako kay Pedro. Maganda ang paghahanda nya sa labang ito,” said Monis.
Source: Manila Bulletin
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