Taduran Repeats Over Shigeoka to Successfully Defend IBF Belt

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Pedro Taduran is still the king of the 105-lb boxing division.

Despite huge adjustments deployed by the camp of Japanese challenger Ginjiro Shigeoka, the Filipino boxing superstar managed to outpoint him and successfully defend his International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight championship belt on May 24, 2025, at the INTEX Osaka, in Japan.

11 months after Taduran’s technical knockout win over Shigeoka, everyone expected a more competitive slugfest, and that’s what the two high-octane pugs figured into during the highly-anticipated rematch.

From standing stationary, which steered him to a TKO loss, Shigeoka displayed better head and ring movement in the rematch, making him a difficult target to penetrate in the early rounds.

Aside from his improved head movement, Shigeoka also threw the lead left jab more, the main reason why Taduran failed to land his combinations from rounds 1-4.

Taduran’s camp then played the chess match after ordering their ward to target Shigeoka’s body, an adjustment that worked out perfectly that forced the Japanese to lower his guard during the exchanges.

Two rounds after focusing on Shigeoka’s midsection, Taduran began to control the tempo of the match which paved the way for his signature 1-2 hook-jab combinations to land at will.

Shigeoka struck back in the seventh round after dealing damage on the inside but Taduran wisely maintained his distance from rounds 8-11 which helped him pile up the scoring tally.

The Japanese boxer tried to lure Taduran at the end of the 11^th round by standing in the middle but the Filipino didn’t bite into the bait and backpedaled until the bell sounded.

To wrap things up in the 12^th, Taduran stuck to the basics and hosted a jab party, punishing Shigeoka with snappy crisp jabs that helped him emerge as the clear winner of the fight.

In a surprising turn of events, the win wasn’t unanimous for the Filipino but the official ring announcer aired a split decision victory.

Two judges scored the bout 115-113 in favor of Taduran, while the other judge had it for Shigeoka with a tally of 118-110, a scorecard that was questioned by the majority of boxing fans.