MARLON Tapales is looking to resurrect his career on Easter Sunday as he challenges reigning champion Murodion Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan for the unified WBA and IBF super-bantamweight titles at Tech Port Arena in San Antonio, Texas.
Marlon Tapales vs Murodion Akhmadaliev
The Filipino, who once reigned as WBO bantamweight champion, is coming as an underdog against the undefeated 28-year-old Akhmadaliev.
But Tapales and his camp are unperturbed by the odds and believe they have what it takes to beat the hard-punching Uzbek, who boasts of an 11-0 record with 8 KOs.
“We’ve worked so hard for this fight and we’re ready,” said Tapales, 30, Friday (Manila time)at the final presser of the fight serving as undercard to the WBO flyweight championship bout between Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and Cristian Gonzalez.
“He’s (Akhmadaliev) a good boxer, he’s very talented, but we’ve prepared well for it with good sparring.”
Tapales, fighting out of Sanman Boxing under JC Mananquil, spent training camp in Las Vegas and carries a record of 36-3, with 19 KOs.
He last fought in Dec. 2021 when he scored a second round stoppage of Hiroaki Teshigawara of Japan at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
Akhmadaliev will be making the fourth defense of his two belts which he won via split decision when he dethroned Daniel Roman in Miami, Florida months before the pandemic.
A bronze medalist in the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics, he is the first unified world champion of Uzbekistan, who last defended his title 10 months ago with a 12th-round TKO of Ronny Rios also at the Tech Port Arena in San Antonio.
“I want to show a great fight with a great opponent,” said the Uzbekistani, who nonetheless has his eyes fixed on the bigger prize ahead.
“Undisputed is a dream of mine that has always been there,” Akhmadaliev stressed. “But right now, I’m full concentrated on this fight.”
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