MANILA – Filipino boxer Marlon Tapales will look to pull off a massive upset against Japanese Naoya Inoue in a world super bantamweight division unification bout tonight at the Ariake Arena in Koto-Ku, Japan.
At stake in the 12-round bout are Tapales’ International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Association (WBA) super bantamweight belts along with Inoue’s World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) belts.
Tapales, who captured his IBF and WBA titles when he defeated Murodjon Akhmadaliev last April, said he is confident that he can pull off a stunner against the heavily-favored Inoue.
“I believe I have good chances of winning because I trained really hard for this fight,” Tapales said. “Inoue may be the favorite, but with my training and preparation, I think I would be able to hurt him.”
“I’m in very good shape and wish to win over Inoue clearly. I know Inoue is an excellent boxer with a high IQ, but I’ll do everything possible to be victorious,” added the Tubod, Lanao del Norte-native fighter.
Inoue, for his part, said that he will be cautious of Tapales as he believes that the Filipino fighter will be a tough foe just like the previous Pinoy boxers that he has defeated.
“Tapales is looking to pull off an upset, so I’ll be careful,” Inoue said. “I’ve been training on the premise that I’ll be facing a skilled all-round boxer. I’ve gotten myself into better condition than I was for the Fulton bout.”
The 31-year-old Tapales is entering the match with an impressive 37-3-0 win-loss-draw ring record, including 19 victories by way of stoppages. He is also on a four-game winning run.
The 30-year-old Inoue, for his part, has an undefeated 25-0-0 win-loss-draw ring slate, with 22 of his wins coming within the distance. This will be the Japanese fighter’s second bout in the super bantamweight division.
The Tapales-Inoue bout is set to be shown live on One Sports channel tonight and can also be seen for free via the Pilipinas Live sports application as well as in Arena Plus betting website./PN
