Team Tapales still keeps sparring under wraps
MANILA, Philippines – Sparring remains the most tightly guarded aspect in the training camp of Marlon Tapales, who will try to shock the world when he tries to unify one half of the super bantamweight world titles with Japanese wrecking ball Naoya Inoue next week in Tokyo.
Tapales, the IBF and WBA 122-pound champion, had been sparring behind closed doors since he opened camp for Inoue more than two months ago — from Las Vegas in the United States to Baguio City in the country just a couple of weeks ago.
On Monday, he was supposed to give the press a glimpse of him in action against another boxer during a media workout at the Elorde Plus Gym in BF Homes, Paranaque.
That is, until his team — not wanting any footage of Tapales' sparring sessions to end up on social media — decided to call it off at the last minute.
Philippine flyweight champion Bienvenido Ligas (16-4-2, with 10 KOs) was originally tapped to tango with Tapales for a few rounds of light sparring.
“When Boss JC (Mananquil of SanMan Boxing, Tapales’ promoter) noticed there were a lot of people who showed up, they decided to cancel it (sparring),” Ligas, in his tracksuit looking ready to go, told Philstar.com as he watched Tapales work out in the ring.
“Sayang, magandang experience din sana maka-spar ang isang world champion,” he added.
Instead, Tapales shadowboxed, skipped rope and hit the mitts with chief trainer Ernel Fontanilla, showcasing his stiff jab and quick, powerful hooks.
The 31-year-old Filipino southpaw is bent on defying the odds against WBC and IBF champion Inoue, and he has put in solid work in the process, including numerous rounds of sparring.
“Ang dami, kasi nga Naoya Inoue yung kalaban ko eh,” he said in response to the number of rounds he has racked up in sparring throughout this camp.
The total? North of 200.
“Mga ganyan siguro. Three months na ako nag-i-i-sparring,” he added.
In Baguio some weeks ago, some Manila-based scribes had the privilege of watching Tapales duke it out in sparring with former world title challenger Vincent Astrolabio, and young fighters Pete Apolinar and Kevin Aseniero. Throughout the sessions, video recording wasn’t allowed.
Those sessions are not for public consumption, and certainly not for Inoue’s camp.
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