Tuesday Boxing Day is fitting for the clash between Naoya “Monster” Inoue and Marlon “Nightmare” Tapales, who will meet for Inoue’s WBC/WBO junior featherweight titles and the southpaw Marlon Tapales’s WBA/IBF junior featherweight titles, at the Ariake Arena Kot-ku, Tokyo, Japan
If Inoue (25-0; 22) wins he will become a two-weight undisputed champion, having won all the bantamweight belts in December last year, when he stopped England’s Paul Butler the WBO champion in the 11th round.
The 30-year-old Inoue from Kanagawa, Japan, has won world titles at light flyweight, super flyweight, bantamweight and super bantamweight (junior featherweight) and has a knockout per centage of 88 per cent.
Despite his high knockout ratio, the question has always been asked, will he carry the knockout power through the divisions?
Inoue, who now holds two junior featherweight belts, goes in against the WBA and IBF champion, Tapales, who has risen from light flyweight through the divisions.
The 31-year-old Filipino (37-3; 19), who fights from the southpaw stance, is quite comfortable at junior featherweight, having boxed in this division for more than five years and has come off a good win against Murodjon Akhmaaliev
Inoue is the betting favourite against the awkward southpaw, with most pundits predicting another inside-the-distance win for Inoue.
Betting Odds
1/14-Inoue.
7/1-Tapales
25/1 Draw