Marlon Tapales says Manny Pacquiao has given him advice ahead of his eagerly-anticipated fight with Naoya Inoue – live on Sky Sports Arena on Boxing Day.
Inoue (25-0, 22 KOs) has an impressive 18 knockouts in world title fights and is looking to become an undisputed champion in a second weight division.
Tapales (37-3, 19 KOs) won the WBO bantamweight world title in 2016 and one of his three losses came against Ryosuke Iwasa in 2019.
He has since won his last four fights and in April this year he defeated Murodjon Akhmadaliev to win the WBA and IBF super-bantamweight titles.
Inoue will look to take those belts when the pair meet at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, live on Sky Sports Arena on Tuesday with coverage under way at 8am UK time and the ring walks expected at 10am.
Southpaw Tapales has won 19 of his 40 boxing fights by knockout
“I am grateful to have this opportunity to have my own name on history in the Philippines,” Tapales told Sky Sports.
“There will be a lot of people watching this fight in the Philippines. I have a lot of friends and I know so many people that like boxing.
“Manny will be watching. He gave me advice on how to fight and how to beat him. Hopefully I can execute it.
“I want to show them the real Tapales and show them I belong as a top contender and can fight the best of the best, pound for pound. If I have a chance to knock him out, I will grab for it but I can’t predict what round.”
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Highlights of the WBC & WBO super-bantamweight title clash between Stephen Fulton and Inoue
In July, Inoue stepped up to super-bantamweight for the first time and scored a spectacular eighth-round stoppage win to defeat Stephen Fulton and claim the unified WBO and WBC titles.
The 30-year-old has looked a dominant force in his rise from light-flyweight. He became an undisputed champion at bantamweight in his previous contest before Fulton and is now a unified champion at 122lbs, the fourth division in which he has held world titles.
However, Tapales was “surprised” at how long Inoue took to take out Fulton.
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Watch ringside footage as Inoue produced an explosive stoppage of Fulton to become a four-division world champion. Credit: Top Rank
“I’m not intimated by his record. I have a good record too and experience of fighting for a long time in boxing,” he added.
“I have a style and power to knock my opponents out. If I have a chance, I will go for it. We have trained a lot of strategies which I will keep secret as we have been working hard for this fight.”
Watch Naoya Inoue vs. Marlon Tapales on Tuesday (Boxing Day) – live coverage on Sky Sports Arena begins at 8am with the ring walks for the main event at around 10am. Stream with a NOW Sports Month Membership: £21 a month for 6 months