Taduran to face Zhu in IBF mandatory defense
Over the weekend Jake Donovan, writing for Ring revealed that IBF Mnimumweight champion Pedro Taduran (17-4-1, 13) would be returning to the ring for his first defense on November 23rd, as he heads South Korea to face off with aggressive Chinese fighter DianXing Zhu (14-1, 12) [朱典兴], in a mandatory defense.
Taduran, who is now enjoying his second reign as the IBF champion following an upset win over Ginjiro Shigeoka back in July, has won 3 in a row since losing the IBF title by technical decision in 2022 to Rene Mark Cuarto. His first reign, which was ended by Cuarto, had ran from September 2019, when he beat Samuel Salva in a brilliant 4 round war, to losing to Cuarto in February 2021, in the first of two bouts between the two men, having made a single successful defense, a technical draw with Daniel Valladares. A rematch with Cuarto, in 2022, saw him lose a technical and fail to reclaim the title, though his win over Shigeoka earlier this year was sensational as he took the best Shigeoka had to offer, before breaking down the Japanese star.
This will be his 4th bout outside of the Philippines, having fought in Thailand, losing to Wanheng Menayothin, Mexico, the technical draw with Valladares, and Japan, the win over Shigeoka.
As for Zhu this is a very big step up and comes on the back of a 9 fight winning streak which was seen him scoring wins all across Asia with victories in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea. That winning run has seen him overcome the likes of Marco JohnRementizo, Richard Garde, Tomoya Yamamoto and Shane Gentallan, who he stopped very late in round 10 to pull a victory from the jaws of defeat.
Although the bout will be on neutral soil it should be noted that Zhu has fought in Korea before, and his promoter, Cocky Buffalo, have got strong links to South Korea where they have held numerous shows in the last few years.
At the time of writing it’s unclear which Korean boxing body will be behind the fight, though it will be the first male world title fight in Korea in over a decade, showing just how far Korea has fallen in professional boxing, having once been a key nation in the sport, with great success through the 1970’s and 80’s and into the 1990’s.
For those wanting to read Jake’s article, which could well be described as an Ode to Fred Garvin, the article is here.
Taduran, who is now enjoying his second reign as the IBF champion following an upset win over Ginjiro Shigeoka back in July, has won 3 in a row since losing the IBF title by technical decision in 2022 to Rene Mark Cuarto. His first reign, which was ended by Cuarto, had ran from September 2019, when he beat Samuel Salva in a brilliant 4 round war, to losing to Cuarto in February 2021, in the first of two bouts between the two men, having made a single successful defense, a technical draw with Daniel Valladares. A rematch with Cuarto, in 2022, saw him lose a technical and fail to reclaim the title, though his win over Shigeoka earlier this year was sensational as he took the best Shigeoka had to offer, before breaking down the Japanese star.
This will be his 4th bout outside of the Philippines, having fought in Thailand, losing to Wanheng Menayothin, Mexico, the technical draw with Valladares, and Japan, the win over Shigeoka.
As for Zhu this is a very big step up and comes on the back of a 9 fight winning streak which was seen him scoring wins all across Asia with victories in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea. That winning run has seen him overcome the likes of Marco JohnRementizo, Richard Garde, Tomoya Yamamoto and Shane Gentallan, who he stopped very late in round 10 to pull a victory from the jaws of defeat.
Although the bout will be on neutral soil it should be noted that Zhu has fought in Korea before, and his promoter, Cocky Buffalo, have got strong links to South Korea where they have held numerous shows in the last few years.
At the time of writing it’s unclear which Korean boxing body will be behind the fight, though it will be the first male world title fight in Korea in over a decade, showing just how far Korea has fallen in professional boxing, having once been a key nation in the sport, with great success through the 1970’s and 80’s and into the 1990’s.
For those wanting to read Jake’s article, which could well be described as an Ode to Fred Garvin, the article is here.