Pedro Taduran took a big step toward raising his profile in search of a unification bout, retaining his IBF strawweight title with a seventh-round stoppage over Gustavo Perez Alvarez on Friday at Pechanga Resort in Temecula, California.
The end came at the 1:34 mark of the seventh as referee Thomas Taylor halted the bout following the fourth knockdown of the fight. Ironically, it was the least convincing of the four, as Perez rolled his ankle trying to avoid a left hand from Taduran, leading to him going down. The issue had been settled, as the aggressive Taduran, making the third defense of the title he won in 2024 with his stoppage of Ginjiro Shigeoka, had broken his opponent down.
“I’m honored to have my first fight in the United States be a successful title defense. Perez presented a new challenge, but it was a challenge I was able to quickly figure out," said Taduran.
Taduran, of Libon, Albay, Philippines, improved to 20-4-1 (13 KOs), while Perez, of Ensenada, Mexico, fell to 16-2 (5 KOs), snapping an eight-fight winning streak.
Despite the gap in experience, the taller Perez, 27, held his own early on, as the two southpaws fought to establish their jabs, with Perez the boxer and Taduran, 29, the aggressor. Taduran turned up the aggression again in the second, deftly moving his head off the center line as he fired his left hand down the middle, making Perez work overtime to keep him off of him.
By the third, Perez was not able to consistently hold Taduran at bay, as Taduran’s jab pinned him to the ropes and made him a target for his left hands. Taduran began to focus his attack on the body in the fourth round, digging right hooks to his opponent’s midsection while walking him down and applying pressure. After a straight left to the body folded Perez over, he squatted down to take a count but hadn’t gone all the way to the canvas yet, which was all the permission Taduran needed to land two more punches to make it official. Perez beat the count but was bombed back to the canvas moments later, and would beat the count once more.
Perez had a solid bounceback round in the fifth as Taduran, looking too hard for the knockout, walked in without a jab, allowing Perez to counter and pot-shot. At the tail end of a strong sixth for Perez, Taduran scored his first knockdown on a head shot, catching his opponent between punches with a straight left to the chin just before the bell to end the round, which led to the stoppage the following round.
The fight headlined a Manny Pacquiao Promotions card. Taduran, who is now based in Southern California, has been vocal about his interest in a unification fight with WBO/WBA champion Oscar Collazo.
In the co-featured bout, Emmanuel Pacquiao Jnr, the son of the legendary Manny Pacquiao, scored his first victory as a professional, knocking down Idaho’s Darrick Gates, 0-2, twice in the second round to score a stoppage in their lightweight bout. Pacquiao, 25, improves to 1-0-1 (1 KO), having drawn with Brendan Lally last November in his pro debut.
“It’s a weight lifted off my shoulders,” said "Jimuel" Pacquiao Jnr. “I learned so much in my first fight that I was able to implement into my training camp and tonight. I have the best team in the world around me at Wild Card Boxing Club, and tonight’s result is a testament to that. The experience I’m getting is invaluable and I look forward to getting back to work.”
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
