By REYNALD MAGALLON
Marlon Tapales hopes to become “The Monster’s” biggest nightmare when he takes on the daunting task of putting his name to history books against Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue in their super bantamweight unification bout at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo on Tuesday, Dec. 26.
Both fighters didn’t have a hard time making 122-pound limit with Inoue first to tip the scales at 121 and ¾ lbs while Tapales weighed in at 121 ¼ lbs on Monday, Dec. 25 to formally set the stage for the clash between the two premiere power punchers.
Odds are stacked against the pride of Lanao Del Norte especially versus Inoue who aside from fighting before an expected huge home crowd, is currently regarded as one of today’s top pound-for-pound fighters.
But Tapales is in no way fazed, rather even more determined to prove that he’s not only there to survive the 12-round fight but to actually win it all and become the first Filipino unified champion.
Boasting a 37-3 record with 19 knockouts, Tapales, who holds the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation belts vowed to bring the fight and not back down against Inoue.
The Japanese star, on the other hand, sports a neat 25-0 record, 22 KO and the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization crowns.
“Tulad ng sinabi ko, gusto kong manalo di po ako mananalo kung lagi lang po akong dedepensa. Tama yung training ko, alam ko kung ano yung dinala ko rito so talagang lalaban ako,” said the Filipino southpaw during the final press conference of the mega bout.
Much of the spotlight, of course, is on Inoue who is pegged as the heavy favorite as he hopes to continue his meteoric rise and become the only second boxer – behind Terrence Crawford – to unify the four world championship belts in two weight classes.
Inoue was coming off a dominant eighth round stoppage against Stephen Fulton where he displayed the familiar blazing speed and signature crushing firepower to win the belts he is staking against Tapales.
Inoue sees no problems in facing up against a southpaw like Tapales and his camp is so confident of a big win – a knockout, in fact – that it believes there’s no need for a rematch clause.
The camp of hard-punching Filipino, who is looking to pull off another shocking upset following his split decision win over Murodjon Akhmadaliev, thinks otherwise, saying that it will be glad to go back to Japan for a possible rematch.
