SALUD RECEIVES OFFER FOR TAPALES TO DEFEND WBO BANTAMWEIGHT TITLE AGAINST FORMER IBF CHAMPION PAUL BUTLER
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 24 Aug 2016
Paul Butler.
Newly crowned WBO bantamweight champion Marlon "The Nightmare" Tapales has received an offer to defend his title against former IBF champion Paul "Baby Faced Assassin" Butler of Britain, who is 27 years old and has a record of 21-1 with 12 knockouts.
Promoter Rex "Wakee" Salud told The Standard that if the fight pushes through it would be sometime in October or November in England. However, "Wakee" hasn't received details of the purse of Tapales and other ancillary rights.
Tapales is coming off a stunning KO victory over champion Pungluang Sor Singyu in which the Filipino got off the canvas twice in round five before turning the tide and eventually blasting the Thai world champion into submission in the 11th round.
WBO official fight supervisor Leon Panoncillo, the Asia Pacific vice president who had earlier predicted a good fight in a conversation with The Standard said "it was one of the best fights I've seen in Thailand."
Panoncillo told The Standard that Pungluang dropped Tapales twice in the 5th round but Tapales rose from the canvas and came back to drop Pungluang in the very next round and as the Thai champion faded in going for a knockout, Tapales capitalized on this and went after Pungluang, the two-time world champion who first won the vacant title with a 9th round knockout of AJ "Bazooka" Banal at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Panoncillo told us "it was a very exciting and very competitive fight."
He said Tapales won "impressively" and came back after he saw Pungluang tiring out and from then on it was all Tapales before he knocked out the Thai champion at 37 seconds into the 11th round.
Butler won the IBF junior bantamweight title with a split decision over Stuart Hall on June 7, 2014 but lost the belt to Zolani Tete of South Africa by an 8th round TKO at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on March 6 last year.
Since that setback Butler has racked up four wins in a row, one by knockout and three by TKO. In his last fight on March 12 this year, Butler scored an impressive 9th round TKO over 24 year old Sebastian "Charrito" Sanchez of Mexico who had a record of 12-1 with 9 knockouts.
Salud also revealed that he had received an offer for Tapales to defend his title against 20 year old Japanese Takuma Inoue who is unbeaten in 7 fights with 2 knockouts. Takuma is the younger brother of WBO world champion Naoya Inoue.
However, Takuma is scheduled to face Filipino Froilan Saludar on September 4. Takuma Inoue is the current Orient Pacific Boxing Fewderation champion having won the vacant title with a victory over another Filipino Mark Anthony Geraldo on July 6, 2015.
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