IBF, WBA super bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales witnessed a devastating display on Tuesday in Tokyo, but the Filipino boxer feels confident that he can pull off an upset of Naoya Inoue.
Tapales was ringside, as Inoue made his debut at 122-pounds with an eight round knockout of Stephen Fulton to capture the WBC, WBO world titles.
After the fight was over, Tapales entered the ring and both boxers verbally agreed to collide at the end of the year.
At the moment, the undisputed fight is being targeted for the month of December in Japan.
“I want to fight Inoue. I want to prove (to) myself that I’m a champion,” said Tapales.
According to Tapales' co-promoter, JC Manangquil of Sanman Promotions, the Inoue-Tapales bout is almost sure to happen. The deal will be worked out between MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons and Hideyuki Ohashi, Inoue’s manager and promoter.
Manangquil said Tapales rated Inoue as being “very good” but he also noticed some lapses that can be exploited.
“We’re confident (of pulling off an upset),” Manangquil told Rappler.
Tapales pulled off an upset earlier this year, when he secured a twelve round split decision over Murodjon Akhmadaliev to capture the WBA, IBF titles.
Tapales (37-3, with 19 knockouts) would look to get revenge for several of his countryman that were beaten by Inoue. The most well known of the bunch is Nonito Donaire, who Inoue defeated in 2019 and 2022.
Inoue's recent win made him the second male fighter in Japanese history to become a four division world champion. The other, Kazuto Ioka, is currently the WBA's world champion at super flyweight. Inoue is also the first boxer from Japan to become an undisputed world champion in the four belt era.