Veteran trainer Brix Flores believes that it will be nothing short of a déjà vu when his prized ward, the reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) world bantamweight king Marlon “Nightmare” Tapales defends his belt against challenger Shohei Omori whom the Filipino slugger sent to dreamland that fateful night of December 16, 2015.
Tapales’ promoter Rex “Wakee” Salud recently signed the dotted lines for Tapales (29-2-0, 12KOs) and Omori’s (18-1-0, 13KOs) rematch on April 23 in a still to be determined venue.
This will be Tapales’ first defense of the crown he wrested from Pongluang Sor Singyu last year in Thailand.
Tapales knocked out Omori in the second round of their non title duel last December 16, 2015 at the Shimazu Arena in Kyoto, Japan
Flores told CDN that their rematch would likely result in another knockout because of Tapales’ maturity and confidence following his big win over Sor Singyu.
“I think he will knock out Omori again because he is much matured right now. I saw their first match and I noticed that Tapalaes was very tense. But during the Sor Singyu fight in Thailand, I saw Marlon very relaxed and focused. I think it will be a repeat knowing that Marlon is now very confident,” Flores, a former Olympian, said.
Tapales knocked down Omori four times and ended the bout at the 1:35 mark of the second round when Omori failed to beat the count.
Flores however, reminded Tapales not to be over confident as he believes the Japanese is bent on avenging his painful loss to the Filipino.
He also said that Omori has improved tremendously the past year as evidenced by his third round knockout win over ALA Boxing Gym’s Rocky “Road Warrior” Fuentes last New Year’s eve in Kyoto, Japan.
“Omori has improved because he knocked out Rocky Fuentes. Marlon’s already training for this fight and we don’t plan to change anything in our game plan but rather add something to it,” said Flores.
Omori has piled up three knocout wins after he lost to Tapales against Espinos Sabu, Edgar Jimenez and Fuentes.