If Marlon Tapales is going to get another opportunity at a world title, he’ll first have to get past another ex-champion on his opponent’s home soil.

The former two-division champion will face Yukinori Oguni on April 3 in a 10-round, non-title fight at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan, where Oguni lives.

Despite both fighters having their futures as contenders at stake, Tapales’ co-promoter Jim Claude Manangquil told BoxingScene that the fight was an easy one to make. He says that the match-up, which will be part of a promotion headlined by Rene Santiago’s defense of the WBO and WBA junior-flyweight titles against Masataka Taniguchi, was agreed on during 20 minutes of discussions between Tapales’ other co-promoter, Sean Gibbons of MP Promotions, and Oguni’s promoter, Masayuki Ito.

“It is very important – Marlon needs to win so he could fight for a title next,” said Manangquil of Sanman Promotions.

“It will be an exciting match-up as Oguni is a warrior but of course Marlon beats him.”

Tapales, 41-4 (22 KOs), of Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte, Philippines will be seeking his fifth straight win since losing his unified junior-featherweight titles via 10th-round knockout in an undisputed title fight against against Naoya Inoue back in 2023. The former WBO bantamweight titleholder will be facing his most accomplished opponent during that stretch, and remains a top-five contender at 122lbs with the IBF, WBO and WBC.

“It will be a good fight, he is a long fighter and a warrior,” said Tapales. “It’s in Japan as well so I have to train very hard. It’s up to my team what’s next. I’ll have to focus on Oguni first.”

Oguni, 23-4-3 (9 KOs), won the IBF junior-featherweight title in 2016 with a unanimous decision over Jonathan Guzman, but lost the belt in his first defense the following year against Ryosuke Iwasa, who stopped him in six rounds. The 37-year-old Oguni looked to be in decline after stoppage losses to Fillipus Nghitumbwa and Subaru Murata in 2024 and 2025, but rebounded strongly with a unanimous decision win over the 26-1-1 Thai Thachtana Luangphon in October.