SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Marlon Tapales was pretty much like Manny Pacquiao on the eve of a big fight.
Like the eight-division champion, Tapales was a picture of utmost confidence as he walked his way to the official weigh-in Friday morning for Saturday night’s clash with Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev for the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation super-bantamweight titles.
There was a noticeable bounce in his feet.
He held his head up high, smiled when greeted and spoke highly of his chances of dethroning the heavily-favored Akhmadaliev in their scheduled 12-rounder taking place at the Boeing Center at Tech Port, a brand-new facility just 8.4 miles away (13.5 kilometers) that can be reached in about 15 minutes from downtown.
More importantly, Tapales was coherent and sharp even as he was on a strict diet.
“I feel great because our training camp was great,” Tapales said in Filipino after scaling in at 121.8 lbs during the weigh-in witnessed by the Texas commission and handlers of the fighters.
Akhmadaliev also breezed through the scales, coming in at 121.6 lbs.
By the time they showed up together four hours later during the ceremonial weigh-in — side-by-side and face-to-face — the two had already hydrated themselves.
As soon as he got dressed following the brief bout with the scales, Tapales was given a banana and downed a bottle of electrolyte hydration drink while making the trip up to a room where beef/bone marrow soup, fried pompano and steamed white rice had been prepared.
Monitoring his food intake were his strength coach Larry Wade and trainers Ernel Fontanilla and Ting Ariosa.
In less than 20 minutes, Tapales had eaten so much that Wade was amazed by the amount the fighter had consumed.
Tapales then excused himself so he could relax and recharge inside his room.
“I honestly believe I will win this fight,” Tapales, holder of a 36-3 record with 18 knockouts, said.
Akhmadaliev, though relatively inexperienced based on his 11-0 mark with eight knockouts, is not invincible despite what the odds say.
The Uzbek hitter was an accomplished amateur and boasts of a tremendous skillset, which is enough to make up for his apparent inadequacies in the professional ranks.
“I am here to win. I didn’t come here just to put on a good show for everyone in the audience,” Tapales said.
“I came to fight and win.”
But what if Akhmadaliev still manages to pull off a win?
“He will have to go through the eye of a needle to do that.”
