Former two division titleholder Marlon Tapales returns to action on September 7 when he faces once beaten Indian boxer Saurabh Kumar at Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Tapales (38-4, 20 knockouts) will be fighting for the second time since losing by tenth round knockout last December to Naoya Inoue in a junior featherweight undisputed unification bout. The 32-year-old Tapales of Lanao del Norte province in the Philippines had a brief return to the ring in May, knocking out overmatched Mattapong Jankaew in the first round in Manila.
Kumar (11-1, 6 KOs) is taking a massive step-up in the ten round bout, having fought just once before outside of his native India. In that bout, against Zhong Liu in China a year ago, Kumar was stopped in seven rounds for a WBO regional belt. Since then, the 28-year-old Kumar was held to a split draw against a boxer with a 2-1 record and stopped Shivam Sharma, who entered with a record of 0-1, in the fourth round.
“I am happy to be fighting in the great country of Cambodia and excited to give them a good show,” said Tapales, who is promoted by Sanman Boxing and MP Promotions, in a release.
“It will be a good experience and activity fight for him. The plan for him is to be active, maybe one more [fight] before the year ends. Hopefully by 2025 we get a title shot again and become a three-time world champion,” said Jim Claude Manangquil of Sanman Boxing.
The event will be promoted by KKIF and Wurkz Energy Drink.
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