Piala, Tapales suffer contrasting fates
CEBU, Philippines — Cebuano boxer Bryx “The King” Piala of ARQ Stable and former two-time world champion Marlon Tapales of General Santos City’s ZIP/Sanman Boxing met contrasting fates fighting on foreign shores last Saturday, September 7.
The Talisay City-native Piala was knocked out in the fourth round by the undefeated Japanese power-hitter Mikito Nakano in their OPBF featherweight title match at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Aside from capturing the OPBF crown, Nakano also stretched his perfect record to 11-0 now spiked with 10KOs.
Piala dropped to 9-2 with 3KOs as the ARQ fighters suffered their sixth straight loss in Japan.
It was a different story at the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia where Tapales pulled off a masterful 10-round shutout of the hapless Indian challenger Saurabh Kumar to retain his WBC Asia Continental super bantamweight belt.
Tapales now holds a 39-4 slate with 20KOs. Kumar absorbed his only second defeat in 14 bouts with 6KOs.
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