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Champions Naoya Inoue & Marlon Tapales Collide In
Undisputed Junior Featherweight World Title Showdown
December 26 At Tokyo’s Ariake Arena
Japan’s pound-for-pound king is gearing up to extend his
undisputed legacy to a second weight class.
WBC/WBO world champion Naoya “Monster” Inoue and WBA/IBF
king Marlon Tapales will collide in an undisputed junior
featherweight showdown on Tuesday, December 26 at Ariake
Arena in Tokyo. Inoue, already a four-division world
champion, seeks to become the second fighter to earn
four-belt undisputed status in a second division.
Inoue-Tapales and undercard bouts will stream live and
exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+ in a special early-morning
presentation.
“The sensational Naoya Inoue astounds with every
performance. We are witnessing an all-time great fighter in
the prime of his career,” said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum.
“He has a very difficult task at hand on December 26 against
a tough, powerful Filipino champion in Marlon Tapales, but I
am confident ‘The Monster’ will pass this test with flying
colors.”
Inoue (25-0, 22 KOs) is 20-0 with 18 knockouts in world
title fights since defeating Adrian Hernandez in 2014 for
the WBC light flyweight crown. He then moved up two
divisions, knocked out then-WBO junior bantamweight world
champion Omar Narvaez, and defended the title on seven
occasions. At bantamweight, Inoue became the division’s
first undisputed champion in the four-belt era, collecting
each title as he defeated Emmanuel Rodriguez, Nonito Donaire
twice and Paul Butler over a three-year span. After
vanquishing WBC/WBO junior featherweight world champion
Stephen Fulton via eighth-round TKO in July, Inoue plans to
become the first undisputed four-belt champion at 122
pounds.
Tapales (37-3, 19 KOs) is a 40-fight veteran who debuted in
July 2008. He spent the earlier part of his career fighting
in his native Philippines, suffering two early setbacks
before a breakout performance against then-unbeaten Japanese
contender Shohei Omori, whom he defeated via second-round
TKO in December 2015. Tapales then captured the WBO
bantamweight world title with an 11th-round TKO against
Panya Uthok. After beating Omori in their 2018 rematch, he
moved up to junior featherweight. He is 4-0 with 3 KOs since
losing to Ryosuke Iwasa in December 2019. Tapales returns
following his biggest win to date, April’s upset split
decision against Murodjon Akhmadaliev to capture the WBA and
IBF titles.
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