MARLON “THE NIGHTMARE” TAPALES is now bound for the big time and could be taking on Japanese sensation Naoya Inoue or American Stephen Fulton next, according to MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons.
“Marlon [Tapales] is looking at the winner between the ‘Monster’ and Stephen Fulton, and we are hoping to do ‘the Monster versus the Nightmare,’” Gibbons told BusinessMirror on Monday. “But we will have to wait for the result of that fight first.”
Tapales shocked Murodjon Akhmadaliev via split decision on Sunday in San Antonio, Texas, to deal the Uzbekistan fighter his first defeat in 12 fights and snatch his International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Association super bantamweight titles.
Tapales—37-3 won-lost with 19 knockouts—is now the third Filipino world champion besides World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimum weight champion Melvin Jerusalem and International Boxing Organization flyweight titlist Dave Apolinar.
For the moment though, Tapales said he’ll savor his victory and will come home on April 15 to his native Cebu.
“I just have to stay relaxed and enjoy the moment of being a unified world champion,” said the 31-year-old Tapales, who held the WBO bantamweight crown in 2016.
“I really missed my family so it’s time to go home and have some break,” said Tapales, referring to his wife Jayvee Sheen and two-year-old daughter Kaya Valerie.
“I didn’t go home for a long time, but it’s a worthy sacrifice,” he said.
He earned the guaranteed $60,000 purse (P3.2 million) while Akhmadaliev got $100,000 from the fight.
The Inoue-Fulton fight was originally scheduled for May 7 in Yokohama, Japan, but was postponed for July 25 also in Japan after Inoue was injured in training.
The fight is for the unified 122-pound championship.
Inoue vacated four 118-pound titles in January after he grabbed the undisputed bantamweight championship after scoring an 11th-round knockout win over Paul Butler.
Fulton, meanwhile, is the World Boxing Council and WBO junior featherweight champion.
