By ADRIAN STEWART CO
Filipino boxer Marlon Tapales suffered a 10th round stoppage defeat to Japanese fighter Naoya Inoue in the world super bantamweight unification bout at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday night, December 26.
With the outcome, Inoue gained Tapales’ International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Association (WBA) super bantamweight belts and unified them with his World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) belts.
Both fighters were tentative in the first three rounds, with them only unloading limited punches, and Inoue having the most impact, to gain the early lead from the judges.
Inoue heightened his aggression in the fourth round as he went toe to toe with Tapales until he found a hole in the Filipino’s defense to unload a left uppercut coupled with a flurry of punches and knock him down.
Tapales survived the knockdown and still fought with Inoue in the succeeding rounds, but the Filipino could not connect with his punches due to the speed of his Japanese foe.
However, Tapales could only take so much punishment from Inoue as the Japanese cracked the Filipino fighter with a smashing overhand right to the head, sending him down for good.
With the victory, Inoue maintained his unblemished record of 26-0-0, while also registering his 23rd knockout victory, while Tapales saw his record drop to 37-4 with 19 KOs.
In the undercard bout, Filipino John Paul Cabunilas sustained a fifth round stoppage defeat to Japanese boxer Kanamu Sakama in a match that was controversially stopped by referee Koji Tanaka.
Sakama landed a right overhand followed by a combination of punches on Cabunilas, while the Filipino was also having his attacks when Tanaka suddenly jumped in between the two boxers, embracing the Filipino fighter, prompting the stoppage of the fight.
According to Cabunillas’ assistant coach, Roger Justine Potot, they are mulling filing a formal complaint to the Japan Boxing Commission through the Games and Amusements Board for Tanaka’s strange stopping of the match./ASC, WDJ