Tapales KOs Mexican foe in 2nd round of tune-up bout in California

s Marlon Tapales drapes the Philippine flag on his shoulders after his knockout victory against Jose Estrella of Mexico. | Photo from Sanman Boxing Facebook page

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Former World Boxing Organization (WBO) world bantamweight king Marlon “Nightmare” Tapales made easy work of Mexican Jose Estrella on Sunday, May 14, 2022 (May 15, Manila Time), at the Dignity Health Sports Park, in Carson City, California. 

Tapales scored an easy second round knockout victory against Estrella in their eight-rounder non-title bout in the undercard of Jermell Charlo and Brian Carlos Castano rematch.

Tapales didn’t waste time in his tune-up bout against Estrella, by pummeling the latter from the starting bell of the first round with accurate combinations. 

The 30-year-old Tubod, Lanao del Norte native, cornered Estrella against the ropes, hitting the latter with combinations to end the first round. 

In the second round, Tapales immediately threw a couple of combinations that forced Estrella to up his guard. Again, Tapales, cornered Estrella against the ropes and launched multiple combinations with most landing perfectly on their target.

A timely left hook to the body followed by a right hook to the head ended the bout at 1:39 mark of the second round. 

Estrella went down grimacing in pain from the body shot, and was not able to beat the referee’s count. 

The victory improved Tapales’s record to 36 wins with 19 knockouts along with three defeats. Tapales extended his winning streak to three from 2020. 

Meanwhile, the 32-year old Estrella of Tijuana, Mexico dropped to 23-19-1 (win-loss-draw) with 16 knockouts. 

With the victory, Tapales will only wait for the winner between IBF and WBA unified junior featherweight titleholder Murodjon Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan and Ronny Rios who are scheduled to fight on June 11, 2022. 

Tapales was initially ordered by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) to fight Akhmadaliev last January as the latter’s mandatory challenger. 

However, it was cancelled eventually to give way to Akhmadaliev and Rios’ world title showdown which was first cancelled in 2021 after the latter contracted the COVID-19.