Tapales the next Buster Douglas?

MANILA, Philippines — Sean Gibbons, the great promoter of Filipino world boxing champions, looks at Marlon Tapales as Buster Douglas.

Not in the way that the WBA and IBF super-bantamweight champion from Tubod, Lanao del Norte barely stands 5’4” and weighs 122 pounds.

And that Douglas, the pride of Columbus, Ohio, is a pure heavyweight that stands 6’4” and weighs no less than 230 pounds.

But Gibbons, in his fearless forecast, thinks that Tapales can do to Japanese WBC and WBO king Naoya Inoue what Douglas did to Mike Tyson 33 years ago.

Gibbons said Tapales will shock the world when he beats Inoue on Tuesday in their unification fight in Koto City, Japan.

“A (Tapales) win itself will be on the level of Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson,” said Gibbons ahead of the last big fight of the year.

Tyson, then the undisputed (WBC, WBA and IBF) heavyweight champion, was a staggering 42:1 favorite against Douglas. Tapales is at +800 (meaning every $100 on him wins $800) while Inoue is at -1600 (you need to put $1600 to win $100).

But the unthinkable happened at the Tokyo Dome on the night of Feb. 11,1990 when Douglas scored an earth-shaking 10th round knockout.

So favored was Tyson that people thought all he had to do to beat Douglas was climb the ring.

If Tapales gets lucky or Inoue gets careless, the same thing could happen at the Ariake Arena, which can seat 15,000 and cost $320 million to build.

It was opened in February 2020 and hosted the volleyball competitions for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

On Tuesday, it could be the site of one of boxing’s biggest upsets.

“That would be phenomenal,” said Gibbons.