TAPALES TO FACE IWASA FOR IBF INTERIM BELT DEC 7 IN NEW YORK
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 25 Oct 2019
In a battle of former world champions, Marlon Tapales of the Philippines will face Ryosuke Iwasa of Japan for the IBF Interim world super bantamweight title on Dec. 7 in New York on the undercard of the Jermall Charlo vs Dennis Hogan WBC world middleweight championship at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn promoted by Premier Boxing Champions to be broadcast live on Showtime.
Tapales (33-2-0, 16KOs) wrested the WBO bantamweight belt from Pungluang Sor Singyu of Thailand in 2016 but lost it at the scales in his first defense against Shohei Omori of Japan the following year. Moving up to the super bantamweight division, Tapales has since racked up three victories, all by stoppage, to get back into the top of the rankings, No. 1 by the WBO and No. 3 by the IBF.
Iwasa (26-3-0, 16KOs) captured the IBF super bantam belt in 2017, defended it once, but lost it to TJ Doheny of Australia on Aug. 16, 2018. He defeated Mexican Cesar Juarez Feb. 16 this year to get installed as the IBF No. 1 contender.
WBA super bantam champion Daniel Roman of Los Angeles, California annexed the IBF belt when he defeated Doheny last April in a unification fight. Tapales and Iwasa are fighting to become Roman's mandatory challenger.
Tapales' manager Rex 'Wakee' Salud informed Philboxing that his ward is now deep in training in Las Vegas under the tutelage of former world champion Rodel Mayol.
"Marlon is training good in Las Vegas," Salud said. "He's been sparring with quality boxers. I was informed that he beat up Top Rank star [Shakur] Stevenson in sparring." Stevenson, a silver medalist in the 2016 Rio Olympics, will be fighting this weekend against Joet Gonzalez for the vacant WBO world featherweight title in Reno, Nevada.
Salud also informed that the Tapales-Iwasa fight was arranged by boxing connoisseur Sean Gibbons, president of Manny Pacquiao's MP Promotions.
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