MARLON “Nightmare” Tapales made sure he’d return to Cebu with some measure of pride.
A day after being stripped of his WBO world bantamweight title for missing the required weight for his fight, Tapales redeemed himself by knocking out Japanese Shohei Omori in the 11th round last Sunday at the Edion Arena in Osaka, Japan.
Tapales, who already knocked out Omori in 2015 in a non-title bout in Japan, was slightly leading the score cards of the judges but Omori gained momentum in the later rounds.
In the 10th round, Tapales unleashed a flurry of punches that wobbled Omori. But the Japanese still survived.
Sensing an impending knockout victory, Tapales gave his all by pummeling Omori with another flurry of punches which prompted referee Celestino Ruiz to end the bout.
Tapales earned his 30th win, 13 by knockouts, to go with two losses. Omori suffered his second loss with 18 wins and 13 knockouts.
Tapales said he will move to the super bantamweight division (122 pounds) from the regular bantamweight division (118 lb) after revealing that he’s been struggling to make weight in his previous bouts, including his big knockout win against Thail Pongluang Sor Singyu last year to win the WBO bantamweight title.