PEDRO Taduran is still the IBF mini-flyweight champion.
The Filipino southpaw repeated over Ginjiro Shigeoka of Japan via split decision to retain his 105lbs title belt on Saturday at the Intax Osaka in Japan.
The scores were 115-113 (Dave Braslow) and 115-113 (Gil Co) for the champion, while Shigeoka won in the other judge’s card 118-110 (Katsuhiko Nakamura).
READ: Taduran eyes repeat against Shigeoka in title rematch
The 28-year-old Taduran raised his record to 18-4-1 with 13 KOs.
He captured the IBF title belt from Shigeoka last year with a ninth round TKO in the Japanese City of Otsu.
There was no knockdown in the rematch, but the Japanese challenger was stretchered out of the ring as he appeared exhausted by the end of the action-packed bout.
Taduran noted how Shigeoka moved a lot in the ring unlike in their first meeting.
Photo: Wendell Alinea
"Ang style niya ngayon, magalaw siya. Hindi ko siya basta-basta mahabol," said the champion. "Umiikot siya sa ring kaya nahirapan din akong sumuntok ng combination."
But Taduran was the more active fighter in the ring, and his power punches obviously took a lot out of Shigeoka.
The Japanese suffered a second straight loss - both at the hands of Taduran - and fell to an 11-2 record (9 KOs).
For Taduran, the win opened up a big possibility of a unification bout with WBO and WBA title holder Oscar Collazo.
The 28-year-old Collazo, a Puerto Rican, is unbeaten in 12 fights with 9 KOs. Among his victim was Filipino world champion Melvin Jerusalem, who he dethroned of the WBO crown with a seventh round technical decision in 2023.
Jerusalem has since recovered from the loss and now reign as the WBC mini-flyweight king.
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