Just like Manny Pacquiao, Filipino world champions Johnriel Casimero, Jerwin Ancajas, and Pedro Taduran want to make up for lost opportunities
Deprived of a fight the year just passed, Manny Pacquiao wants to do it twice in 2021.
Still sharp and lethal at 42, Pacquiao is ready for action in April against anybody put in front of him, be it unbeaten champions Errol Spence Jr or Terence Crawford or UFC star Conor McGregor in any order.
The unification showdown with Spence is easy to make because they are both under Premier Boxing Champions while a tussle with McGregor looks inevitable as they are aligned with Paradigm Sports.
Granting, of course, McGregor prevails over Dustin Poirier on January 23 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Like Pacquiao, other Filipino world champions like Johnriel Casimero, Jerwin Ancajas, and Pedro Taduran also want to make up for lost opportunities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After a three-round demolition of Ghanaian Duke Micah to retain his World Boxing Organization bantamweight crown in September, Casimero may be pitted against Cuban World Boxing Association champion Guillermo Rigondeaux in a unification early this year.
If Casimero wins, he may yet get his dream bout against Japanese Naoya Inoue, whose next opponent looms to be International Boxing Federation mandatory challenger Michael Dasmariñas.
Unable to forge a unification with any of his fellow super flyweight champions, Ancajas, already in training in Los Angeles, is shifting his focus on Kazuto Ioka, who stopped fellow Japanese Kosei Tanaka in the 8th round on New Year’s eve to keep the World Boxing Organization belt.
Ancajas has defended the IBF title 8 times as against Ioka’s 2.
Taduran, the IBF minimumweight titlist, will be challenged by Rey Mark Cuarto on February 27 at the Lagao Gym in General Santos City.
The all-Filipino title duel was arranged by MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons. – Rappler.com
