Marlon Tapales (left) and Naoya Inoue (right) pose inside the ring at the Ariake Arena in Japan. | Screen grab from Top Rank’s Twitter video
CEBU CITY, Philippines —The highly-anticipated world title unification bout between Marlon “Nightmare” Tapales and Japanese boxing superstar Naoya “Monster” Inoue is officially set for December 26, 2023 in Japan.
This was officially announced by multiple sources including Top Rank’s big boss Bob Arum, Tapales’ manager JC Manangquil and Sean Gibbons earlier this week.
READ: Naoya Inoue draws comparisons to Manny Pacquiao
One of biggest boxing events of 2023
It pits Tapales’s World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) super bantamweight belts and Inoue’s World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight straps.
READ: Tapales to Inoue: Let’s fight, unify our world boxing titles
Tapales challenges Inoue
It can be recalled that the Filipino boxer officially challenged Inoue last July 25, 2023, when the latter snatched the WBO and WBC world title straps from erstwhile champion Stephen Fulton of the United States via an eight-round technical knockout at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
Tapales was sitting at ringside along with his entourage watching Inoue demolish Fulton to become the world’s best pound-for-pound boxer.
Stole the spotlight
In fact, Tapales stole the spotlight when he gamely answered questions from the ring announcer that he wants to fight Inoue which the latter replied “let’s do this.”
After announcing their intent for a unification bout, the Filipino boxer headed straight to the United States and began his training at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles and in Las Vegas.
READ: Marlon Tapales upsets Uzbek champ to win IBF, WBA belts
Filipino boxer more experienced
On paper, Tapales who is also a former WBO world bantamweight champion has a more experienced record of 37 wins with 19 knockouts and three losses.
In comparison, Inoue is undefeated with 25 wins and a staggering 22 knockout victories.