Marlon Tapales on the scales in Japan. Photo by Wendell Alinea
Marlon Tapales is in familiar territory in Japan, even if he is thousands of miles from home.
Despite holding two world title belts of his own, Tapales is a big underdog heading into his undisputed junior featherweight unification fight against Naoya Inoue on Tuesday morning US time at the Ariake Arena in Koto -Ku, Japan.
Tapales has not only survived in similar situations; That’s when it’s most dangerous.
“That’s nothing new to me. I’ve been the underdog my whole life,” said Tapales, the IBF/WBA 122-pound champion (37-3, 19 knockouts). “I will present it on December 26, I will win.”
The fight, which will also be contested for The Ring Magazine’s vacant junior featherweight championship, will be broadcast live in the United States on ESPN+, starting at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning, and live on One Sports in Philippines starting at 7 pm local time.
While the southpaw is underrated in the boxing world, and even in the Philippines, his face has been ubiquitous throughout Tokyo this week, with posters, billboards and taxis advertising the big fight.
The fanfare is a big change from his upbringing in Kapatagan in Lanao del Norte, about 200 miles north of Manny Pacquiao’s hometown of General Santos City, in the country’s southern Mindanao region.
Tapales was one of eight children who grew up on a rice farm, where his father worked hard to support the family. Faced with the harsh economics of provincial life, Tapales dropped out of high school early and became a professional boxer at age 16 without any amateur experience. He had his first fight in 2008 and won eight fights in a row before suffering a knockout loss in 2009. Tapales then fell apart and won 20 of his next 21 fights before getting his first world title shot in 2016. He traveled to Thailand to face. WBO bantamweight champion Panya Uthok showed courage to get up from two knockdowns with body shots in the fifth round to floor Uthok in the next round before stopping him in the 11th.
Even as a champion, Tapales was virtually unknown in his home country. His title fight was not shown on national television and he remained inactive for nine months before losing the belt on the scale before his slow knockout victory over Shohei Omori.
“It looks like he finally made it,” said Sean Gibbons, president of Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions, which promotes Tapales. “On his first voyage, no one noticed him in the Philippines, he didn’t gain notoriety or anything like that and then he lost due to his weight. I think he is savoring the moment and looks and feels like the best fighter in the Philippines.”
Tapales spent years trying to rebuild himself as a contender, but suffered a major setback in 2019, when he was dominated and stopped by Ryosuke Iwasa in eleven rounds for the interim IBF junior featherweight title. Gibbons blames that loss on his camp as a “disaster.” The loss was a major factor in why he was a solid underdog heading into his mandatory title shot against Murodjon Akhmadaliev last April.
Tapales started quickly, using his southpaw jab to establish an early lead, which was big enough to hold off Akhmadaliev’s late run to earn a split decision and his ticket to the biggest fight there is at 122 pounds.
It’s no coincidence that Inoue (25-0, 22 KOs) is a -1800 betting favorite over Tapales, 31, a +850 underdog, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. Inoue, 30, is a four-division champion and seeks to replicate his feat of becoming undisputed at bantamweight. Inoue looked devastating in his 122-pound debut last July, stopping previously undefeated Stephen Fulton in eight rounds to win the WBC and WBO belts.
Inoue has barely been challenged during his 11-year professional career and was only in danger once. He was injured and suffered an orbital fracture in his 2019 unanimous decision victory over Nonito Donaire, but settled any doubts with a brutal two-round demolition of Donaire three years later.
Naoya Inoue (left) and Marlon Tapales (right) shake hands at the weigh-in. Photo by Wendell Alinea
There was no hint of intimidation from either fighter at Monday’s weigh-in, where Inoue weighed 121.7 pounds and Tapales weighed 121.3 pounds. The two faced each other with belts over their shoulders before smiling briefly and shaking hands.
Jim Claude Manangquil, who manages Tapales, admits that Inoue has lost none of his power and explosiveness in his rise through weight, but feels Tapales has a stylistic advantage.
“I think Marlon has the perfect style to beat Inoue. I have a lot of confidence in it,” Manangquil said. “Coach Ernel Fontanilla and Marlon have a good game plan.”
“[Tapales] It’s so crisp and crisp. The only way you lose is if you get caught with some shot you don’t see,” adds Gibbons.
“Inoue’s offense is his defense, he is very open, he is explosive, he has very good power but he is not difficult to hit. The key to this fight is for Marlon to come out and dictate the first four rounds like he did against Akhmedaliev, back up that jab and just destroy him with some counters like Nonito Donaire did.”
Inoue’s team is already making plans beyond the Tapales fight. Bob Arum, whose company Top Rank co-promotes Inoue, recently told journalist Manouk Akopyan that the plan is for Inoue to face WBC mandatory challenger Luis Nery in May, possibly at the Tokyo Dome. Gibbons warns that looking beyond Tapales could be dangerous.
“It’s like this fight is already over and they are planning Inoue’s next fight. They better slow down and worry about what’s in front of them first,” Gibbons said.
Tapales and the team gave themselves the best chance to pull off the upset in training camp, starting with two months of light training at the Sanman gym in the city of General Santos before moving to Las Vegas for two more months to get the best sparring possible, followed by a month of altitude training in the mountains of Baguio City, Philippines.
A victory for Tapales would be an upset of historic proportions, not only in Philippine boxing, but also in sports. Pacquiao, the greatest fighter in the country’s history, was a 2-1 underdog when the Philippine sports commission and a congressman tried to stop him from flying to Las Vegas in 2008 to face Oscar De La Hoya out of fear for his safety. Pacquiao ended up dominating the colorless De La Hoya en route to an eighth-round stoppage.
There have been no such calls from the Philippines. Just like his promoter Pacquiao did that night in 2008, Tapales can earn lifelong respect with an upset victory.
“This is very important. I want to make history as the first Filipino undisputed world champion,” Tapales said.
“We both want to win but I will win this fight. “This will be historic for boxing in the Philippines.”
Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be contacted at [email protected].
