BANTAMWEIGHT prospect Marlon “The Nightmare” Tapales (22W-2L, 9 KOs) of the RWS Gym will face Edgar “Chololo” Martinez (15W-7L, 9 KOs) of Mexico in the main undercard bout of the WBO world bantamweight title fight between champion Paulus Ambunda (20-0, 10 KOs) of Namibia and Japanese challenger Tomoki Kameda (27-0, 18 KOs) at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino on Aug. 1.
RWS Gym trainer Juanito Ablaca informed Cebu Daily News of this match.
Tapales was initially scheduled to face Fredirex Rodriguez of Bukidnon for the vacant WBO Asia-Pacific bantamweight title. But boxing promoter Rex “Wakee” Salud wanted a more interesting opponent, which led to the tapping of Martinez.
Martinez won by knockout in his last four bouts but this will be the first time he will be fighting outside of Mexico.
The southpaw Tapales rebounded from his majority decision loss to David Sanchez in Mexico to stop Ruben Manakane of Indonesia in four rounds in Japan last May.
Aside from Manakane, Tapales has beaten four other foreign foes—Alejandro Solorio of California , Yodpichai Sithsaithong of Thailand, Martin Mubiru of Uganda and Rasmanudin of Indonesia.
The Ambunda (20-0, 10 KOs) vs. Kameda (27-0, 18 KOs) title fight marks the first time that a world title fight between two foreigners will headline a boxing card in Cebu. /correspondents Rene Bonsubre, Jr and Dale Rosal