Monster Munch: Ahead of his fight against Naoya Inoue on December 26, Marlon Tapales says, “The belts don’t matter”

By Oliver Fennell

MARLON TAPALES has a great grasp of English, however maybe extra importantly, he speaks Boxing News’ language.

The Filipino holder of the WBA and IBF super-bantamweight belts will face fellow double-titlist Naoya Inoue (WBC and WBO) on December 26, however regardless of the match inevitably being ballyhooed as a fight for the undisputed 122lbs championship, Tapales recognises its true worth lies not in alphabet trophies however in standing.

“It’s really, really important for me, not because it’s for the undisputed, but to beat Inoue,” he says. “He’s number one or two, pound for pound. He’s a really good, skilled boxer; they say he’s the complete package. Beating him is more important than the belts.”

And but it’s as a result of of the belts that Tapales will get his likelihood. After claiming all 4 main straps at bantamweight, Inoue needs to do the identical at super-bantam. It is just like the place Britain’s Paul Butler discovered himself in a yr in the past: invited to Tokyo extra for the {hardware} in his possession than for the risk he posed.

And Tapales is being equally written off – although he says being an underdog is nothing new, and factors out that he’s upset the chances earlier than, not least when outpointing Murodjon Akhmadaliev in April to win the titles he’ll defend against the ‘Monster’ from Yokohoma.

“When people say I have no chance, I feel nothing,” he says. “It’s not a big deal. I’m used to people talking like that. In my last fight, they say said I don’t have a chance, they said he [Akhmadaliev] couldn’t be beaten too, but I win, so…”

As good a win as that cut up choice was for the 31-year-old southpaw, there is a vital caveat: that whereas Akhmadaliev was certainly extremely regarded, he was no Naoya Inoue. Tapales, accordingly, is amid the longest coaching camp of his profession; 4 months in Las Vegas below the stewardship of Ernel Fontanilla.

“I train really hard and I have a good team,” he says. “Everybody is saying I can’t win, but I know what I’m working on. The chance is always there. All I need to do is work hard and anything is possible. I know what I’m capable of.”

And what, precisely, is he succesful of?

“I can knock him out,” claims Tapales. “Everybody talks about his energy, however I’ve energy too; timing and energy.

“I’ve seen weaknesses in Inoue. He’s a little open when he throws his punches. If I get hit, I’ll be ready with counter-punching, or I can set him up for combinations.”

Previous Inoue opponents thought they noticed flaws too, however discovered having one of the game’s hardest punchers bearing down on them rapidly modified perceptions. But Tapales, who has been a super-bantamweight for greater than 5 years, believes he could have a pure dimension benefit against a person who has had just one fight at 122lbs.

“Every boxer has a power punch if they land clean, so I’m sparring with bigger boxers, 130- to 135-pounders,” he says. “They hit me and I can take it; it feels good, so I’m prepared for him. I am bigger than him – I can absorb his punch, I can overcome his power.”

No doubt Stephen Fulton, who Inoue beat in such spectacular vogue in his super-bantamweight debut in July, would have imagined the identical, however the actuality was very completely different. Even so, Tapales reckons that was due extra to Fulton’s psychological failings.

“He gave Inoue too much respect,” he says. “People say it was Inoue’s best performance, but Fulton was uncomfortable from the start.”

Whatever transpires in Tokyo, one will get the impression that Tapales does – at this level, anyway – consider in himself. It is a confidence borne of earlier successful kind as an underdog, of having come up the onerous manner and studying from setbacks, and of rising to world-level success from humble beginnings.

“My childhood was hard,” he says. “Growing up in Kapatagan is a tough life, very agricultural.

“There was no historical past of boxing in my household. I by no means thought of boxing till my brother purchased me some gloves, simply as a present. I constructed a little bit sandbag and hung it in the home and educated myself.

“I had my first fight when I was about eight. I never had a proper amateur fight, but we used to fight by the river, using my brother’s or neighbours’ gloves.”

Despite this lack of formal newbie expertise, Tapales turned professional in 2008, aged 16. At the time, he had no expectations, however quickly realised he may be on to one thing.

“I was boxing just for fun, but they give me money [to fight professionally] and I think it’s a big deal,” he says. “1,800 pesos [about £35] – at the time, for me, it’s big money.”

His successful debut lasted 54 seconds, and Tapales continued to make a quick begin to his profession. He scored an upset over then-prospect Ryan Tampus in his sixth bout, prompting Tampus’ supervisor to supply him a contract.

“I dropped out of school to go to the big city,” he says. “I moved to Cebu to train at a professional gym. My trainer there told me I have a talent for boxing, so I started to focus.”

Tapales on the pads (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)

An unsuccessful bid for a Philippines championship inside his first yr was adopted by a profitable one 10 months after that, and by his early 20s Tapales was effectively into his stride, an attraction at house and a winner in fights within the United States and Japan.

This led to his first ‘world’ title, through an exciting Eleventh-round knockout of WBO bantamweight belt-holder Pungluang Sor Singyu in July 2016. It was a four-knockdown fight to the end, with Tapales dropped twice within the fifth however outlasting the native because the unforgiving afternoon solar beat down on an outside area in Thailand.

“My corner wanted me to run out the fight, to survive, but I refuse to run,” he says. “I felt I might be behind, because it’s Thailand and you know the judges there. I needed to knock him out.”

Which is strictly what he did, but when this man from the southern Philippines was unfazed by Thailand’s tropical local weather, he discovered a frosty spring in Japan posed a special downside. Tapales was resulting from make his first defence, against Shohei Omori, however relinquished the belt on the scales, as he was unable to get under 119 3/4lbs regardless of two makes an attempt.

“I was very sad for that,” he says. “We went to Japan for five or six days [before the fight] and I struggled to cut weight because it was cold. It made me weak.”

Tapales floor out one other Eleventh-round end, however his bantamweight days had been numbered. He has received seven of eight fights since on the greater poundage, with solely Akhmadaliev going the space. But if this hard-hitting kind presents motive for optimism against Inoue, it’s tempered by the only defeat – a complete one – at 122lbs, against Ryosuke Iwasa. Tapales, although, explains: “My coach [at the time, Rodel Mayol] agreed the fight without telling me. I didn’t have enough time, not enough training; about four weeks, very short for me. Also, I was struggling with my team, and Iwasa is a very good boxer; he’s got skill, he’s got power.”

If anybody has talent and energy, it’s Inoue, however Tapales warns against utilizing the Iwasa outcome as a gauge of his probabilities right here.

“It was the last time I lost [against Iwasa, in December 2019],” he says. “I improved a lot. I have my new coach [Fontanilla]; he trains me very well, he’s improved my style and technique and also my stamina.”

Can that presumably be sufficient to attain what can be the upset of the yr? Tapales, understandably, believes it’s, but when we, equally understandably, can not share that perception, he seeks to persuade us by altering his language. It’s nonetheless English, nevertheless it’s a model Boxing News would like wasn’t spoken, even whether it is one all fighters perceive: the language of belts.

Tapales might say that the prospect of beating Inoue is extra essential than the belts – and that’s undeniably true – however cites the belts as an emblem of hope.

“Always, when I fight for the ‘world’ championship, I am called the underdog,” he says. “But always, I prove the people wrong.”