NEIL John Tabanao looks to end his two-fight losing skid as he takes on Japanese up-and-comer Teiru Atsumi in a six-round fight in the undercard of the title defense of World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight king Marlon Tapales against Shohei Omori on April 23 at the EDION Arena Osaka in Japan.
Tabanao dropped by unanimous decision against Isaac Dogboe in August in Ghana and then also lost by unanimous decision in an eight-rounder against Evgeny Smirnov in Russia in December. He is in dire need to break that losing slump if he wants to be significant once again.
?Every fight is important for me. It is important for me to move up because if I will continue to lose, then I will stay at the bottom,? the 23-year-old Tabanao, the former WBO Oriental featherweight champion, told SunStar Cebu.
Tabanao won the vacant WBO Oriental title after an upset stoppage finish of Ibrahim Balla in Australia last June. He broke into the world rankings at No. 15 but quickly dropped out after back-to-back defeats.
Like Tabanao, Atsumi is also a young, hungry fighter. The 23-year-old Osaka native, however, is on a six-fight winning streak, in which five ended in knockouts.
Some of his victims are previously unbeaten prospect Sho Nakazawa and former World Boxing Council (WBC) International bantamweight champion Dennis Tubieron, a Filipino.
?I have no idea how he fights. I will just feel him out in the first round,? said Tabanao.
