Marlon Tapales snatches Akhmadaliev’s 2 world super bantam crowns

MANILA, Philippines – Marlon Tapales weathered Murodjon Akhmadaliev’s late round assaults and snatched the Uzbek’s World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) super bantamweight crowns on Saturday, April 8 (Sunday, April 9, Manila time), at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas. (Editor’s Note: Akhmadaliev’s surname was misspelled in an earlier version of this story. It has been corrected.)

The Filipino controlled the early rounds and piled a big lead that proved enough to dislodge Akhmadaliev, who took the last three rounds, via split decision, 115-113 twice for Tapales and an atrocious 118-110 score for the Uzbek.

It was a close call for Tapales, who used jabs and uppercuts to win seven of the first nine rounds before fading and getting outpointed by Akhmadaliev from the 10th to the 12th rounds.

By then, however, Akhmadaliev needed at least a knockdown to reverse the outcome and it didn’t come.
Proving the oddsmakers wrong, 30-year-old Tapales, the former World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight champion, raised his record to 37-3 with 19 knockouts while handing Akhmadaliev his first loss in 12 fights with 8 KOs.

Akhmadaliev staggered Tapales with a solid punch early in the seventh round, but Tapales shook it off and came back strong in the eighth and ninth, which turned out to be pivotal for the pride of Tubod, Lanao del Norte, who was tagged a +350 underdog by betting sites.

Discarding caution, Tapales, dubbed the “Maranding Nightmare,” chose to slug it out with Akhmadaliev in the 12th and nearly paid for it as he got tagged with a solid punch.

The punch stats reflected the nature of the bout which saw Tapales unload 704 punches against Akhmadaliev’s 608, although the Uzbek was more accurate, 147-121. Tapales poured 439 jabs against AAkhmadaliev’s 344 en route to a 53-37 edge in connections.

Tapales thus became the second Filipino world boxing champion in 2023, following in the footsteps of fellow SanMan Promotions star Melvin Jerusalem, who won the WBO minimumweight belt at the expense of Japanese Masataka Taniguchi in Osaka in January.

SanMan head JC Manangquil was present along with MP (Manny Pacquiao) Promotions president Sean Gibbons, who arranged Tapales’ crack at the 122-pound title.

Tapales was trained in Las Vegas by Elmer Fontanilla with assistance from Ting Arriosa.

For his victory, Tapales also lined himself against the winner between Naoya Inoue and Stephen Fulton, who will be disputing the World Boxing Council (WBC) and WBO super bantam crowns in July.

Other members of Team Tapales in San Antonio include Brendan Gibbons, former world champion Jerwin Ancajas and his longtime trainer Joven Jimenez, and Sanman fighters headed by Jade Bornea and Mike Plania. – Rappler.com