SPORTS SHORTS 267: MARLON TAPALES CLASHES WITH HIROAKI TESHIGAWARA IN THE NONITO DONAIRE-REYMART GABALLO UNDERCARD ON DECEMBER 11
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 26 Nov 2021
Former Filipino world champion Marlon Tapales faces a tough opponent in Japanese Hiroaki Teshigawara in the title eliminator for the International Boxing Federation super bantamweight belt on December 11 at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
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Teshigawara has metamorphosed into a wrecking machine knocking out his last six foes and will solidly give Tapales an acid test in their eliminator for the IBF super bantamweight title. Teshigawara now has a record of 22-2-2 with 15 knockout victories.
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Tapales, the former World Boxing Organization bantamweight champion, has a career slate of 34-3 with 17 knockout wins. He stopped compatriot Eden Sonsona by second round TKO on November 21, 2020 at the Sanman Gym, General Santos City in his last bout.
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That was after his loss to Japanese Ryosuke Iwasa by 11th TKO on December 7, 2019 at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York, U.S. for the vacant IBF interim super bantamweight title.
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The 29-year-old Tapales is presently in rigid training under head trainer Ernel Fontanilla and Ting Ariosa, mainly at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California.
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Teshigawara stood at 5-foot-7 is taller than the 5-foot-4 Tapales. He will engage in ring battle on foreign soil for the first time and will even debut outside Toko since all of his 25 previous fights took place at the Korakuen Hall.
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The 31-year-old Teshigawara has victimized four Filipinos in Glenn Sumanguit by KO5, Junny Salogaol by TKO2, Jetro Pabustan by TKO10, Jason Canoy by UD.
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Both Tapales and Teshigawara fought a common opponent Japanese Shohei Omori. Tapales stopped Omori twice by 2nd round TKO on December 16, 2015 and by 11th round TKO on April 23, 2017. While Teshigawara won by 12th round TKO on August 9, 2019 to retain his WBC-OPBF super-bantamweight title.
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According to Sanman Promotions manager JC Manangquil, Tapales is now ready for the main supporting bout of the Nonito Donaire-Reymart Gaballo match for the World Boxing Council bantamweight championship.
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"He (Tapales) is just eight pounds over and will make weight once he goes on diet," Manangquil told Rappler. He will travel to the United States in the last week of November to support his protégés Gaballo and Tapales.
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“We continued with our training. It was moved, but it’s just a few weeks,” Tapales said as quoted by SunStar Cebu. He added that they did not make any adjustments in their training camp.
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Tapales and Teshigawara were originally scheduled to fight on November 27, 2021 in Brooklyn, New York but the match was reset for two weeks this time at a different venue.
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The 29-year-old Tapales is now excited to fight in the title eliminator hoping to earn a crack at the title and return to the top of boxing’s hierarchy. “I’m doing good right now. I’m 100 percent ready for the fight. I’m very excited for this fight,” he said.
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Since the win against Sonsona, he has stayed in the US preparing for the big fights like this IBF world title eliminator. He trains at the Wild Card Boxing Club with fellow Filipino sluggers Jade Bornea and Mark Magsayo. He also trains at the Brickhouse Boxing Club in Los Angeles
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“I have sparred with a lot of fighters. I don’t really remember their names because I have lots of different sparring partners. Now, I’m only sparring with Jade (Bornea) because the fight is already close and I only need to maintain my conditioning,” said Tapales as quoted by Yahoo! Sports.
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Teshigawara is rated No. 3, while Tapales is No.4 IBF super bantamweight contender. The winner of the eliminator will earn a world title shot against current IBF super bantamweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan.
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Tapales, from Tubod, Lanao del Norte, seized the WBO bantamweight title by surviving two knockdowns before flooring Thai Pungluang Sor Singyu twice on the way to scoring a knockout in the 11th round before a jeering crowd in Ayutthaya, Thailand in July 17, 2016.
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In his first defense a year later, the southpaw Tapales was stripped of the crown for weighing two pounds overweight but fought fiercely to stop Japanese challenger Shohei Omori by 11th round TKO on April 23, 2017 in Osaka, Japan.
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Hiroaki Teshigawara held the WBC-OPBF super-bantamweight and previously the WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight title. He is ranked as the world's No. 4 super-bantamweight by BoxRec and No. 7 by The Ring. The orthodox fighter is from Sawa District, Gunma, Japan.
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Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant surpassed Hall of Famer Allen Iverson for 25th on the NBA's all-time scoring list during their 123-104 victory over the Boston Celtics at TD Garden on Wednesday night.
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Iverson, who had stints with the Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons and Memphis Grizzlies scored 24,368 points in the span of his superstar career. The next player on target by Durant is Ray Allen, who is at 24th place with 24,505 career points.
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"It means the world," Durant said. "I dedicated my life to this game at an early age. So I watched all these guys that I'm like passing up. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be in the NBA like them and make an impact in the league like them. So Iverson, he was a pantheon for me. One of those guys that I emulated every time I went outside and played with my friends."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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