Refusing to lose

It wasn’t easy for Marlon Tapales to win over defending WBO bantamweight champion Pungluang Sor Singyu in Ayutthaya late last July but as the saying goes, if there’s a will, there’s a way. Tapales, 24, just wouldn’t take losing as an option and survived a series of road blocks to wrest the crown via an 11th round knockout.

Tapales was behind on two of the three judges scorecards when Pungluang was counted out by Puerto Rican referee Ramon Pena. Las Vegas judge Lisa Giampa had it 94-93 and New Mexico judge Chris Tellez, 96-91, both for the Thai. Puerto Rican judge Gerardo Martinez saw it 95-92 for Tapales.

Tapales’ manager Rex (Wakee) Salud said yesterday the ordeal began when their flight from Cebu to Bangkok was delayed then cancelled. They spent the night in a hotel but hardly slept because the rescheduled flight was early the next morning. Tapales, Salud and trainers Fernando Ocon and Brix Flores touched down in Bangkok three days before the fight. The Filipinos were then brought to meet the fight sponsors in a long drive that took four hours going and four hours coming. The day after, Tapales struggled on the scales because he couldn’t sweat off weight with the hectic schedule laid out by the organizers. Salud said Tapales was five over the 118-pound limit two days before the weigh-in.

Luckily, Tapales made it at 117 after a two-hour extension. But that wasn’t the end of his problems. On the day of the fight, Tapales left his hotel at 9 in the morning. With traffic slowing down the drive, Tapales and his team arrived at the fight venue at around noon. The fight was set at 3 p.m. The vegetables that Tapales took for brunch hadn’t settled in his stomach when the bout started.

In the fifth round, Tapales went down from a body shot. He got up but after a few seconds, took another eight-count to rest. Tapales said he felt heavy with the food undigested in his stomach. But after all the hardships in making the trip, Tapales refused to lose. He decked Pungluang in the sixth and finished him off in the 11th. Tapales said the Thai was both exhausted and hurt when the end came.

Pungluang, 27, was no pushover. He’d beaten 20 Filipinos, including the likes of A. J. Banal, Monico Laurente, Eden Sonsona, Marvin Tampus, Danilo Pena, Paul Apolinario and Rey Megrito. Last year, he knocked out Japan’s Ryo Akaho in the second round in Ratchaburi to begin his second reign as WBO bantamweight champion. He entered the ring with an impressive record of 52-3, with 35 KOs compared to Tapales’ 28-2, with 11 KOs.

Salud said Tapales, a southpaw, reminds him of Manny Pacquiao. “He has power like Manny,” said Salud. “He throws a lot of punches like Manny. He can hurt you with his right or his left. Hindi siya mayabang. He’s a simple guy. He lives with his parents and a younger brother. He has two brothers who are soldiers. He’s had a girlfriend for two years but he has no plans of getting married. He wants to earn as much money as he can for his parents and his future.”

Salud said Tapales caught his eye when he stopped Warlito Farrenas in the seventh round to win the vacant Philippine lightflyweight title in Tubod, Lanao del Norte, in 2010. That was Tapales’ 13th pro fight. At that point in his career, Tapales had lost only to Brix Rey by a stoppage in 2009.

“I knew about Marlon’s defeat to Rey,” said Salud. “He took the fight at short notice without a trainer and had to travel from Lanao to Surigao for the fight. I don’t think he was in condition. After I watched him beat Farrenas, I paid his manager Bobong Yap P550,000 for his contract.”

Salud said Tapales is a man of many talents. One of the things he does is after climbing up a coconut tree, he goes down head first with the coconuts in his hand.  

Since Tapales’ win, Salud said he has received offers from as far as London. “I had already committed to Takuma Inoue’s camp for a defense in Tokyo on Dec. 30,” he said. “I agreed to a purse of $130,000 which is a lot bigger than the $37,000 he got for the Pungluang fight. London came up with an offer of $170,000 and another Japanese fighter Shohei Omori, whom Marlon knocked out in two rounds last December, offered $150,00 for a rematch. I was also approached by Edito (Villamor) asking if Marlon could be promoted by the ALA Gym. Right now, we’re getting a lot of offers so we want to make sure first of all, Marlon defeats Inoue to retain his title.”

Salud said fighting in Japan won’t pose a problem. So far, Tapales has fought thrice in Japan and hasn’t been beaten. His victims were Indonesia’s Ruben Manakane, Hayato Kimura and Omori. Salud said Tapales is a favorite sparring partner of unbeaten WBC bantamweight champion Shinsuke Yamanaka of the Honda stable. “At least thrice, Marlon was brought to Japan to spar with Yamanaka for about a month each time,” said Salud. “Once, Yamanaka got groggy during sparring. I think the Honda people like Marlon because he goes all out. He gets paid $1,000 a week for sparring with Yamanaka so if he stays a month, he earns $3,200 net of the agent’s fee of 20 percent.”

Inoue, 20, has an 8-0 record, with two KOs. His older brother Naoya is the WBO superflyweight champion. Two of Inoue’s victims were Filipinos Froilan Saludar and Mark Anthony Geraldo. Salud said Tapales has the tools and skills to defeat Inoue. For a fighter who refuses to lose, Tapales has a long boxing career ahead. If his head stays in place and he continues to work hard in the gym, there’s no telling how far he’ll go.