Nayoa Inoue (25-0) takes on Marlon Taples (37-3) from the Philippians. This Boxing Day showdown will be for the Undisputed Super-Bantamweight Championship.
This will be familiar territory for the Japanese “Monster” as after beating Paul Butler this time last year, will add to his confidence on Tuesday evening or for the UK watchers Tuesday Morning .
Inoue stopped Butler in the 11th round which meant he added the last piece to his collection to become Undisputed Champion at 118lbs. Inoue will be looking to become a two weight Undisputed Champion. If successful Inoue will cement himself as one of the pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
However, The “Nightmare” will be hoping to ruin the Christmas celebrations for the Japanese fighter as he brings his WBA and IBF belts and will look to add late Christmas present’s with Inoue’s belts to his collection.
Tapales who also started at light-flyweight is currently in his fifth weight division at the age of 31.
In the Filipino’s last fight, he defeated Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev via a split decision. The Nightmare prior to going 12-rounds with Akhmadaliev has knocked out three opponents in a row within two rounds.
This shows Tapales has got some serious talent and power. This is further shown in nine of his last 10 victories have ended by knockout, which means Tapales could cause some problems for the Japanese megastar.
The 30-year-old unbeaten four-weight World Champion from Kanagawa carries a lot of power and has fought his way through the light-fly, super-fly, bantam and super-bantamweight divisions.
This domination has left a trail of destruction behind as he has 22 knockouts throughout this period which includes 12 World Champions in the past.
Writers thoughts:
Inoue is looking to do what Terrence Crawford successfully managed earlier in the year where he destroyed Errol Spence Jr and become a two-weight world Champion. Inoue hopes to end 2023 being the second fighter to be a two-weight World Champion.
I’ve got Inoue winning this fight on points as Tapales has got a very big heart and will not be easy to stop. This will be a brilliant watch and could possible sneak into the top 10 fights of year even with only 5 days left.
Words By Harry Tovey.
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