FORMER World Boxing Organization (WBO) world bantamweight champion Marlon “Nightmare” Tapales ends a year-long hiatus as he return to the ring on March 17 when he faces unheralded Indonesian Rivo Rengkung in Bendigo Exhibition Centre in Victoria, Australia.
The 25-year-old Tapales, the ace boxer of Rex Wakee Salud (RWS) Boxing Gym in Cebu City, only had a single fight last year when he fought and won against Japanese Shohei Omori in Tokyo, Japan. But he lost the title prior to the fight due to weight issues.
The Lanao del Norte native Tapales holds a record of 30 wins (13 by knockouts) with two defeats. He will take on the older Indonesian boxer in Rengkung, who is 33 years old and has a record of 33-24-6 (win-loss-draw).
Their fight will be a 10-rounder non-title bout. This will serve as Tapales’ first fight in Australia.
Tapales earned his popularity in boxing after he snatched the WBO world bantamweight strap by knocking out Phuengluang Sor Singyu of Thailand in 2016.
He has been unbeaten since 2013 and is currently on a 10-fight winning streak.
Rengkung, meanwhile, lost to Pipat Chaiporn of Thailand via a fifth-round Technical Knockout (TKO) in his most recent fight last August for the IBF Pan Pacific super bantamweight title.
Meanwhile, Neil John Tabanao(14-5-0, 10KOs), Tapales’ stablemate, will be featured in the fight card as well. Tabanao, a former world title challenger will be fighting a dangerous opponent in Rachan Yageow (25-4-0, 20KOs) of Thailand for 10-rounds.
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