A FEW days from now, Filipino Marlon Tapales and Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue will square off in Japan for all four (WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO) major titles in the junior featherweight or superbantamweight (122 pounds) division.
Officially, the bout is set to take place on Dec. 26, 2023 at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
Tapales, 37-3 with 19 knockouts, is putting on the line his WBA-IBF junior bantamweight crowns.
Inoue, 25-0 with 22 knockouts, is dangling his WBC and WBO versions of the title.
The winner of the fight will produce the first ever undisputed junior featherweight champion of the four-belt era.
If Tapales prevails, he will go down in the record books as the first Filipino undisputed champion in the four-belt era.
If Inoue wins, he will collar his second undisputed crown. He was crowned undisputed world bantamweight champion in December 2022 when he knocked out Briton Paul Butler.
By beating Butler, Inoue also became the first Asian boxer to be crowned undisputed champ in the four-belt era.
If Inoue beats Tapales, he will follow in the footsteps of Terence Crawford as the only boxers to be crowned undisputed champion in two weight categories.
Crawford pulled off the trick by winning undisputed titles in the junior welterweight (140 pounds) and welterweight (147 pounds) divisions.
Here’s a new twist, though: the winner of Tapales-Inoue will close out tthe year as only the second reigning undisputed champ in pro boxing.
Before the Tapales-Inoue was finalized, pro boxing had four undisputed champions in American Terence Crawford (welterweight), American Jermell Charlo (junior middleweight), American Devin Haney (lightweight) and Mexican Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (super middleweight).
In September, Charlo was stripped of his WBO junior middleweight (154 pounds) title just before he fought Alvarez for the undisputed super middleweight (168 pounds) crown. Charlo was outclassed by Alvarez and opted to return to junior middleweight. In November, however, Charlo vacated the IBF belt, leaving him with only the WBC and WBA crowns.
In November, Crawford was stripped of his IBF welterweight title for failing to arrange a mandatory defense against American Jaron Ennis. Instead of defending against Ennis, Crawford agreed to a rematch with Errol Spence Jr. next year. Crawford bamboozled Spence Jr. on July 29 to unify the welterweight belts. Ennis has since been promoted to IBF champ.
American Haney vacated all four of his lightweight belts just before his December 9 fight with WBC junior welterweight (140 pounds) champ Regis Prograis.
Haney unified all four lightweight belts in June 2022 when he outboxed George Kambosos Jr. In his last fight, May 2023, Haney edged out veteran Vasyl Lomachenko in 12 rounds.
Haney, 31-0 with 15 knockouts, had struggled to meet the lightweight limit of 135 pounds. Haney initially pondered on keeping the belts but ultimately decided to vacate as he pursued the Prograis fight.
In a masterful performance, Haney outboxed Prograis to win by decision and annex the WBC junior welterweight championship.
Haney now has his sights fixed on unifying all titles in the junior welterweight class.
As things stand, pro boxing only has one reigning undisputed champion in super middleweight king Canelo Alvarez.
The winner of the Tapales-Inoue fight will join Alvarez as reigning undisputed champion.
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 knockouts) holds the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight crowns. He is booked to face WBC champ Tyson Fury on February 17, 2024 for all four heavyweight crowns.
Russian Artur Beterbiev (19-0, 19 knockouts) holds the WBC, IBF and WBO light heavyweight (175 pounds) crowns. Fellow Russian Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 knockouts) holds the WBA diadem but a unification showdown with Beterbiev is still not in the cards.
Tapales and Inoue are clearly out to seize the chance to join Alvarez in a very exclusive list.
Inoue remains the overwhelming pick to prevail. The Japanese “Monster” captured the WBC and WBO junior featherweight belts by knocking out American Stephen Fulton in July. Inoue won the titles in only his maiden appearance in the 122-pound class.
Tapales, a former WBO bantamweight champion, shocked oddsmakers in May when he pulled off a stunning decision win over Murodjon Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan for the IBF and WBA junior featherweight diadems.
Tapales got off to a great start and then survived some tense moments at the tail-end to secure the win.
