After planting rice and forging a machete in his native Albay for almost half a year, Pedro Taduran has decided to head back to Metro Manila to prepare for the impending go-signal that will allow professional boxing’s restart.

With the Inter-Agency Task Force slowly allowing the training of select sports to resume, Taduran is keenly awaiting for the green light so he can report to the gym.

Taduran, the reigning International Boxing Federation minimumweight titlist, got back from the town of Libon, 440 kilometers south of Manila, last week.

The hard-hitting Taduran was visiting his parents and was getting ready to take the bus back to the big city when the lockdown was enforced.

Just like everyone else, Taduran thought it would just be a matter of a few weeks before the travel ban is lifted.

He was dead-wrong.

Instead of winding up heartbroken, Taduran took advantage of his vacation by helping out in their land, planting rice and even lending a hand in machete-making with his father Pedro Sr.

Still, Taduran didn’t allow himself to go out of shape.

With the assistance of his brother, Taduran worked regularly in a makeshift gym on the third floor of their house.

“Mabuti na lang at nagdala ako ng gamit,” said Taduran, who shadow-boxed, jogged and did the padwork during his free time.

The discipline did work wonders as the pint-sized puncher’s weight didn’t shoot up more than 122 lbs.

Taduran, holder of a 14-2 record with 11 KOs, campaigns in the 105-lb ranks and the 17-lb weight gain is no cause for alarm.

Now that he has returned and in close proximity of the gym, Taduran is eager to hear the sound of punches that seem like gunfire, the scent of liniment and the smell of sweat as well as overall feeling of working out.

After all, the last time he saw action, the 23-year-old Taduran was in a ring in Mexico, where he barely kept the crown against local boy Daniel Valladares.

Sean Gibbons, who runs the Manny Pacquiao-owned MP Promotions, is busy working on prospective fights for Taduran and the rest of the ever-growing stable of elite boxers.

In the meantime, Taduran is making sure he begins putting to good use the hands that pay the bills.