It’s not over for Marlon
Marlon Tapales could’ve taken a safe route in defending his WBA and IBF superbantamweight titles against a no-risk challenger but opted to go for all the marbles in a bid to make history as the first Filipino undisputed champion by taking on WBC/WBO titlist Naoya Inoue at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo last Tuesday. It was a bold decision and Tapales went down slugging in losing to Inoue on a 10th round knockout.
The three judges had no difficulty scoring the fight for Inoue and at the time of the stoppage, Craig Metcalfe of Canada saw it a shutout, 90-80, Raul Caiz of California had it 88-82, and Robin Taylor of New York 89-81. CompuBox stats showed Inoue landing 146 of 401 punches or a connection rate of 36.4 percent, compared to Tapales’ 52 of 310 or 16.8 percent. Although Tapales threw 90 jabs, CompuBox credited only nine strikes and tallied blanks in rounds three, four, five and six.
Tapales was dropped by a left hook, right straight, left hook combination late in the fourth but beat the count. He rallied in the next three frames, causing Inoue some trouble with body shots, but couldn’t close out strong to finish convincingly. Caiz and Taylor, however, scored the seventh for Tapales. There were flashes of brilliance from Tapales as he made in-fight adjustments to throw off Inoue. Tapales switched his attack from distance to close range, defended with a shoulder roll and unleashed three-punch combinations to push Inoue back. It’s not often that the Japanese “Monster” resorts to moving side-to-side but Tapales forced the 10-1 favorite to abandon straight-up engagements in some instances.
What Tapales displayed was a brave fighting heart. He never backed down and took everything Inoue dished out like a warrior. The heavy bombardment began to take its toll on Tapales in the ninth as Inoue stepped up his attack. The Japanese rattled Tapales off-balance with double rights to the face and methodically, broke down his southpaw defense with precision. Tapales continued to plug away almost instinctively as Inoue countered with head and body blows. In the 10th, Inoue rocked Tapales with a ramrod right straight to the head then blasted another right as the Filipino reeled back. In a delayed reaction, Tapales fell on his knees as Chicago referee Celestino Ruiz started to count. Tapales put up a knee and tried to rise but it was too late.
“It was a huge try,” said MP Promotions head Sean Gibbons who was at ringside and will stay in Tokyo when Manny Pacquiao arrives with his family tomorrow. “I thought Marlon opened up fighting a brilliant style, trying to get Inoue’s timing down but the speed was just too much and of course, the power. It’s funny that Marlon mentioned the power wasn’t overly devastating, he just got caught with the speed and timing. Marlon fought an unbelievable, courageous fight.”
Gibbons said Inoue may eventually move up to 126 so “look for Marlon to return in May or June, get a win, battle in a title eliminator and I believe he’ll be a two-time 122-pound world champion.” Tapales returns home tomorrow.