Jake Amparo (blue/white trunks) lands a right uppercut to Pedro Taduran’s midsection during their IBF world minimumweight title eliminator. | Glendale Rosal
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Boxing promoter and lawyer Floriezyl Echavez Podot gave nothing but praises to his ward, Jake “El Bambino” Amparo who came up short in his first world title eliminator bout against ex-world champion Pedro “Kid Pedro Heneral” Taduran.
This happened in the main event of “Kumong Bol-Anon XIII” on December 28, 2023, at the Bohol Wisdom School gymnasium in Tagbilaran City.
READ: Taduran earns right to fight IBF champ after beating Amparo in Kumong Bol-anon duel
Taduran dominates Amparo
Taduran (16W-4L-1D, 12KOs) put on a lopsided 12-rounder unanimous decision win against Amparo (14-5-1, 3KOs) in the fight card put up by the PMI Bohol Boxing Promotions.
Podot, the promoter and manager of the PMI Bohol Boxing Promotions said he remained a firm believer for Amparo becoming a world champion one day, despite the huge setback that could have earned the latter the IBF world minimumweight championship bout.
“Kahibawo si Jake (Amparo) nga moabot ra gyud ang panahon nga mochampion ra gyud na siya. Although karon, siguro nakita nato nga murag dili pa gyud para iyaha. Siguro next time kung matured na gyud iyahang mentality sa fight,” Podot said in the post-fight interview.
(Jake (Amparo) knows that the time will come when he will become a champion, Although now, perhaps, we see that it is not for him yet. Perhaps, next time if he will become mature in his mentality to fight.)
READ: Kumong Bol-Anon XIII: PMI, ARQ boxers triumph in undercard fights
Good performance
“Pero wala ko lain ikasulti ni Jake, maayo gyud iyahang performance. Naay uban ato moligid na ang uban ato sa volume of punches ni Taduran, pero nagpabilin gabarog si Jake. “
(But I have nothing else to say to Jake, his performance was good. There are others in the same situation that they will go down from the volume of punches from Taduran, but Jake remained standing.)
Taduran dictated virtually the entirety of the bout, except in the final round when Amparo showed a glimpse of what he could have done in the earlier rounds.
Amparo perfectly landed his counter punches and used his speed and lateral movements to outbox Taduran in the final round.
READ: Amparo, Taduran lock horns for world title eliminator clash
Too late for comeback
However, it was a little too late for a comeback as Amparo was behind the judges’ scorecards. Judge Jonathan Davis scored it 119-109, while Nobuto Ikehara saw it 118-110, and Sanong Uomim scored it 116-112, all for Taduran.
Despite the defeat, Podot, credited both boxers for their ‘championship caliber’ showdown that made the fight card more entertaining.
“Nindot kaayo ang duwa, wala ta ikasulti lain, both fighters gave their hearts. Sa conditioning, makita nato maigog kusog, pero makabalik dayon, so gipreparahan gyud ba. Murag dili ta mopakita sa main event, murag pang championship. Although wala nakuha sa atong boxer, pero nalipay gihapon ko kay Pilipino gihapon ang moduwa sa world title,” said Podot.
(The fight was great, we have nothing to say about it, both fighters gave their hearts there. In conditioning, we can see that after getting hit hard, they can come back, so they really prepared for this. It seems that we were not watching a main event, it seemed like we were watching a championship bout. Although, our boxer did not get it, but I am happy because a Filipino will still be the one to fight for a world title.
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Amparo lacks punches to throw
For his part, Amparo admitted that he was partly to blame of his world title eliminator setback.
In the post-fight interview, Amparo said that he lacked the punches thrown in the fight. Also, he admitted that Taduran was simply the bigger boxer and has the heavier punches between them.
“Nagkulang gyud ko sa sumbag, unya murag dili ta makadulot kay dako gyud siya. Ang iyahang mga sumbag solid kaayo,” said Amparo.
(We lacked the punches, and it seemed like my punches could not hurt him because he was bigger. His punches were really solid.)