WORLD Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales won his belt in enemy territory and will defend it also on enemy shores.
Rex Wakee Salud (RWS) International matchmaker Willy Flores confirmed to SunStar Cebu that Tapales is going to defend his WBO bantamweight strap against Takuma Inoue on Dec. 30 in Japan.
Tapales? manager and promoter Rex ?Wakee? Salud has already struck a deal with Inoue?s camp through Joe Koizumi.
According to Flores, Tapales has already started training two weeks ago even though it?s still more than three months away from the fight date.
Flores said that Neil John Tabanao will be Tapales? main sparring partner in preparation for the fight.
The 20-year-old Inoue, rated 12th in the WBO bantamweight rankings, is the younger brother of WBO super flyweight champion Naoya Inoue.
Inoue is off an impressive unanimous decision win over Filipino Froiland Saludar the other night in Japan. Inoue was dropped in the first round but rose back up to send Saludar to the canvass twice before taking a unanimous verdict., 97-90, 97-90 and 96-91.
