SPORTSCLOPEDIA 33: MARLON TAPALES IN GREAT SHAPE AGAINST MURODJON AKHMADALIEV ON APRIL 8
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 12 Feb 2023
Former WBO world bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales is scheduled to challenge Murodjon Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan on April 8 at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas, USA. Akhmadaliev will be staking his World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation super-bantamweight titles.
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“This is a big opportunity as I am fighting not just for one but two world crowns,” Tapales said.
“Tapales is a different monster now. Everyone counted him out when he lost to [Ryosuke] Iwasa. It’s different now. He is in great shape and stronger. He will beat MJ,” said promoter Jim Claude Manangquil as told to The Ring.
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Tapales grabbed the opportunity to fight for the world title when he knocked out Japan's Hiroaki Teshigawara in the second round in the IBF title eliminator. He floored Teshigawara three times in scoring the stoppage win on December 11, 2021 at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California on the undercard of the Nonito Donaire vs. Reymart Gaballo title fight.
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The 30-year-old Tapales owns a slate of 36-3 with 19 knockouts and is also a southpaw like Akhmadaliev, who is younger at age 28. Akhmadaliev boasts of an immaculate 11-0 record with 8 knockouts.
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Tapales had his regular sparmates former world champions Jerwin Ancajas and top contender Jade Bornea, who are all his housemates in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Even if Tapales is a former WBO bantamweight titlist, but he will surely be the underdog during the title match, but Manangquil isn't threatened by they underdog tag by indicating Tapales is a live dog under his new trainers Ernel Fontanilla and Ting Ariosa.
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Tapales has difficulty being consistent in the ring. He surged onto the world scene on December 16, 2015 with a second round knockout of Shohei Omori in a title eliminator that was similar in nature to the win over Teshigawara.
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Tapales from Tubod, Lanao del Norte, has been dreaming of getting back into the world championship. He won the WBO bantamweight title by 11th round KO of Thailand's Pungluang Sor Singyuin on July 17, 2016 in Ayutthaya, Thailand after flooring him twice in the fifth round.
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He lost the title on the scales the following year after his failure to get the weight limit for a rematch against Omori, and was relegated to fight in tuneup bouts before losing to Ryosuke Iwasa by eleventh round TKO in December 7, 2019.
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Akhmadaliev has twice defended his unified titles since grabbing the belts from American Danny Roman by split decision on January 30, 2020 at the Meridian at Island Gardens, Miami, Florida, U.S. He is a southpaw fighter from Chust, Uzbekistan and now trains in Indio, California under the watchful eyes of Joel Diaz.
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He won a twelve-round unanimous decision win over Chile's Jose Velasquez last November 19 in Manchester, New Hampshire, USA. Velasquez replaced WBA mandatory challenger Ronny Rios who was tested positive for COVID-19 just a week before their scheduled fight.
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On April 3, 2021, Akhmadaliev scored a fifth-round knockout victory over IBF mandatory challenger Ryosuke Iwasa of Japan in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It was his first fight in his native country since winning the gold medal there in the 2017 Asian Amateur Championships tournament.
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On June 25, 2022, Akhmaladiev finally met American Ronny Rios and won by a twelfth-round technical knockout at Tech Port Arena, San Antonio, Texas, USA to retain the WBA (Super) and IBF super-bantamweight titles. He decked Rios with a flurry of punches in the last round, and although Rios was able to beat the count, he was knocked out with another barrage of punches.
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Akhmadaliev, as an amateur, won a silver medal at the 2015 World Championships in Doha, Qatar and bronze medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics as a bantamweight.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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