Following the cancellation of his December 30 defense in Tokyo, Marlon Tapales is now looking at the possibility of bringing his act to England or Northern Ireland in 2017 for the initial defense of his World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight crown.
Tapales’ chief handler Wakee Salud, still hurting from the scrapping of Tapales’ supposed first defense against Takuma Inoue at the Ariake Coliseum, told the Bulletin that there is an offer from London and another one in Belfast.
The London invite will be a fight with Paul Butler while the Belfast brawl will be a faceoff with Ryan Burnett.
“They’ve reached out to me but nothing’s been formally written,” said Salud from Cebu City where he is discussing the matter with Tapales.
Inoue was forced to withdraw after suffering an injury during training, forcing Ohashi Promotions to scrap the fight after its replacement didn’t meet the standards of the Japanese TV company that will broadcast the fight.
The offers tin England and Northern Ireland are both attractive but we are weighing our options because there is also an offer to fight in Japan in March, he said.