SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Marlon Tapales is not only gunning for two world titles belts Saturday night (Sunday in Manila) but is actually playing the lottery when he faces Murodjon Akhmadaliev at the Boeing Center at Tech Port.
Though the prospects of stripping the Uzbekistan fighter of his World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation super-bantamweight title belts look enticing, what happens next is what truly makes everyone at Team Tapales drool over what a victory could bring.
Sean Gibbons, who arranged the Filipino’s crack, said on Tuesday that a win would catapult Tapales to a megabuck matchup with Naoya Inoue, who is expected to blow past Stephen Fulton of the United States in July in Tokyo.
“Marlon is playing the lottery and a win will guarantee him a big money showdown with Inoue,” Gibbons said during a chat with key members of the fighter’s entourage at the Hyatt Regency at the Riverwalk.
“If he wins, Marlon will find himself at ringside in Tokyo watching Inoue (beat Fulton),” Gibbons said.
Tapales and his party arrived here Tuesday night from Las Vegas.
Gibbons and his son Brendan lead the group that also includes trainers Ernel Fontanilla and Ting Ariosa and JC Mananquil, the boxer’s promoter in the Philippines, and his right-hand man Ramon Falgui.
Also in town are Tapales’ main sparring partner Jerwin Ancajas and his long-time cornerman Joven Jimenez as well as Christopher “Amen” Arias, who used to help out members of Manny Pacquiao’s inner circle.
Inoue, the undisputed world bantamweight king, will make his 122-lb debut against Fulton in the hopes of bagging a fourth world title in as many weight classes.
In the event Tapales scores an upset, he will also become a two-division world champion since he formerly won a version of the bantamweight crown a few years ago.
It will also enable him to join Melvin Jerusalem as the Philippines’ other reigning world champion.
The odds are stacked heavily against Tapales.
But Gibbons swears the lottery Tapales is playing to win is not 50 million to one.
“It’s not a long shot,” Gibbons said.
Tapales, insists Gibbons, is a serious threat Akhmadaliev has to hold off.
