by Ronnie Nathanielsz
Marlon Tapales, the promising 23 year old fighter from the stable of Rex “Wakee’ Salud weighed in at 117 pounds for his bantamweight title eliminator against Shohei Omori of Japan who came in half-a-pound heavier at 117.5 pounds for their showdown in Kyoto on Wednesday, December 16.
Tapales is ranked No. 1 by the WBO while Omori is ranked No. 3.
Both Tapales and Omori are southpaws with Tapales sporting a record of 27-2 with 10 knockouts while Omori is undefeated in 15 fights with 10 knockouts.
In his last fight on January 31, Tapales scored a 2nd round knockout over Jeker Buhawe.
The reigning WBO Asia Pacific champion Tapales won the vacant title with a twelve round unanimous decision over Fredirex Rodriguez and then successfully defended it with another twelve round unanimous decision over Fadhili Majiha of Tanzania after dropping him once in round six on June 28, 2014.
In one of his most impressive performances Tapales when he lost a majority decision to David Sanchez in a clash for the World Boxing Council Interim Silver super flyweight title on February 23, 2013.
He also has a 2nd round TKO victory over current WBA light flyweight Interim champion Randy Petalcorin early in Petalcorin’s career.
Salud told the New Standard that Tapales trained hard for this fight and is hoping to win and get a crack at the world title held by Thailand’s Pungluang Sor Singyu.
The unbeaten Omori is reportedly a heavy-handed fighter who won the Japanese bantamweight title with a 3rd round TKO over Kentaro Masuda on April 13 this year and successfully defended his title with a 6th round TKO over Hirofumi Mukai on September 16.
The only Filipino Omori faced was Albert Alcoy whom he knocked out in round one of a scheduled six round bout on November 29, 2013.
The Asian Fight Scene reported that the “highly regarded Omori scored his most notable victory on July 26, 2013 when he took out Kiron Omura (11-3, 9 KO’s) in just 92 seconds..”
The internet site referred to Omori as “a fast rising prospect.”