The last time Filipino fighter Marlon Tapales fought, he traveled on a low-cost carrier, his manager had to lease a van for ground transport and his team even had to beg for an increase in their paltry per diem.
Those days are long gone as Tapales has signed to make the first defense of his World Boxing Organization bantamweight crown on Dec. 30 at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
Even the purse during Tapales’ title winning effort against Pungluang Sor Singyu last July in Ayutthaya, Thailand, won’t compare to what the WBO 115-lb titleholder will make when he faces Takuma Inoue.
Wakee Salud told TEMPO yesterday that Tapales is guaranteed $130,000 (R6M) for staking his crown against the unbeaten Inoue, who formalized his crack at the WBO diadem after picking himself up from the floor en route to a victory over Filipino Froilan Saludar recently.
Against Sor Singyu almost two months ago, Tapales, the mandatory challenger, received a measly $37,000 but he made up for it with a dramatic 11th-round stoppage.