NEWLY crowned World Boxing Organization bantamweight champion Marlon “The Nightmare” Tapales has received an offer to defend his title against former International Boxing Federation champion Paul “Baby Faced Assassin” Butler of Britain, who is 27 years old and has a record of 21-1 with 12 knockouts.
Promoter Rex “Wakee” Salud told the Manila Standard that if the fight pushes through, it would be sometime in October or November in England. However, Salud hasn’t received details of the purse of Tapales and other ancillary rights.
Tapales is coming off a stunning KO victory over champion Pungluang Sor Singyu, in which the Filipino got off the canvas twice in Round 5 before turning the tide and eventually blasting the Thai world champion into submission in the 11th round.
WBO official fight supervisor Leon Panoncillo, the Asia Pacific vice president, who had earlier predicted a good fight in a conversation with The Standard, said: “It was one of the best fights I’ve seen in Thailand.”
Panoncillo told the Manila Standard that Pungluang dropped Tapales twice in the fifth round, but Tapales rose from the canvas and came back to drop his foe in the very next round.
And as the Thai champion faded in going for a knockout, Tapales capitalized on this and went after Pungluang, the two-time world champion, who first won the vacant title with a ninth-round knockout of AJ “Bazooka” Banal at the Mall of Asia Arena.
He said Tapales won “impressively,” and came back after he saw Pungluang tiring out and from then on, it was all Tapales before he knocked out the Thai champion at 37 seconds into the 11th round.
