Twin wins for Pinoy boxers
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 05 Apr 2026
It was a double victory for Filipino fighters at the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California last Saturday night (yesterday morning, Manila time) with boxing icon Manny Pacquiao applauding the twin wins at ringside. There was reason to celebrate as Pacquiao’s oldest son Jimuel decked Darrick Gates twice before referee Rudy Barrigan halted the four-rounder at 1:34 of the second to book his first pro triumph after a draw in his debut.
In the main event, IBF minimumweight champion Pedro Taduran recovered from a slow start to bombard Mexican challenger Gustavo Perez into submission at 1:34 of the seventh. Judges Barrigan, Zachary Young and Pat Russell scored the first round for Perez who repeatedly raked Taduran with a right jab in the battle of southpaws. Russell had it a shutout for Perez after three rounds. Then, Taduran began to overpower Perez, pressuring the Mexican to seek refuge along the ropes and in the far corners. Taduran floored Perez twice in the fourth, once in the sixth and dropped him with a left to the ribs in the seventh, prompting referee Thomas Taylor to wave it off.
Taduran, 29, said it was a combination of power and timing that did the trick. “Sobrang saya at thankful kay God at nabigyan ako ng lakas,” said Taduran after repulsing his third challenger on his second reign as IBF titlist. “Yung paghihirap ko ng tatlong buwan sa US nagbunga, araw-araw kami ni coach Carl (Erbing Penalosa) nag-training.” Conditioning and preparation had a lot to do with Taduran raising his record to 19-4-1, with 14 KOs. Perez, 27, suffered his first setback after eight wins in a row and his record dropped to 16-2, with five KOs.
Pacquiao, 25, fought to a majority four-round draw with Brendan Lally in his pro debut last November but this time, scored a decisive win over Gates, an MMA and bare-knuckle gladiator. Gates, 36, was three inches taller and his reach of 71 1/2 inches was a distinct advantage. Pacquiao, however, negated Gates’ length with a relentless two-fisted attack that focused on the body.
“For this fight, nilagay ko sa isip ko to be more aggressive, more convincing, that I really want to win,” said Pacquiao who weighed in at 136.2 pounds for the bout. “This whole camp, alam namin ni coach Marvin (Somodio) na matangkad ang kalaban so we really focused on the body. There are many more things to learn so I’ll train harder.” From a scale of one to 10, Pacquiao said he rates his performance at six to seven. “I’m never satisfied and I’ll always try to do better,” he said.
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