Good Friday belonged to Japan. Black Saturday was the Philippines’Â thanks to Pedro Taduran and Jimuel Pacquiao.
Less than 24 hours after Marlon Tapales suffered a stunning upset loss to Yukinori Oguni in Tokyo, Filipino boxing answered backâand it answered loud.
Pedro Taduran Retains Title in Emphatic Fashion
Pedro Taduran retained his IBF minimumweight championship with a brutal seventh-round stoppage of Gustavo “Smiley” Perez Alvarez at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California. The finish came at the 1:34 mark of the seventhâexactly when his trainer, Carl Penalosa, had predicted.
That’s not a coincidence. That’s a gameplan executed to the letter.
Taduran did not have it easy early. Perez Alvarez pressed the attack in the opening rounds, and the Filipino spent those early exchanges trying to crack his opponent’s guard. The fight turned in the fourth, when Taduran dropped the Mexican with a body shot. Perez Alvarez beat the count, but that was the beginning of the end.
Taduran knocked him down again in the same round, then again late in the sixth with a hook. By the seventh, it was a matter of when, not if. Another body shot finished it. Perez Alvarez beat the count of 10, but referee Thomas Taylor had seen enough.
Taduran improves to 20-4-1 with 14 knockouts. Perez Alvarez drops to 16-2, his smile long gone.
Jimuel Pacquiao Gets into Win ColumnâAlso in Emphatic Fashion
On the same card, Emmanuel “Jimuel” Pacquiao Jr. got his professional career off the ground with a second-round knockout of American Darrick Gates. The 25-year-old son of Manny Pacquiao dropped Gates twice in the second roundâfirst with a combination capped by a hook, then with a body shot that ended the night. Pacquiao Jr. moves to 1-0-1.
It is one win, and expectations should be kept in check. But for a fighter carrying one of boxing’s most famous names, getting the first win is the first hurdleâand he cleared it.
The Philippines took a hit on Friday. On Saturday, it hit back.
