Tapales as overweight pure stupidity

A FACE-SAVER it is, but Marlon Tapales tainted his reputation and inflicted a deep cut on world boxing as well.

Yes, he stopped Shohei Omori yesterday in the 11th round, but that didn’t stop his fellow boxers—many of them, anyway—from condemning him as a result of his being overweight at the weighin a day before the fight in Osaka, Japan.

How can Tapales allow such a despicable thing to happen to him—him being a world champ no less?

You rule the world (WBO bantamweight) and, simply, you don’t take good care of it and take your weight for granted?

Aren’t you supposed to hit your weight limit—in Tapales’ case 118 lb— during the twomonth training itself?

How come Tapales was still overweight when he flew to Osaka days before the fight on Sunday?

And at 120 lb during the weigh-in— that was a surplus fat of 2 lb.

That’s why I couldn’t blame Omori, who came in at 117, when he accused Tapales of “being unprofessional” even before they could start trading blows.

As a result, Tapales, defending his world crown for the first time, lost the championship belt and immediately earned brickbats from around the world.

Because rules say the fight would still proceed even as Tapales isn’t champ anymore, Omori could capture the title only if he defeats the gallivanting Filipino.

Omori (18-2, 13 KOs) was two rounds away from achieving his dream when Tapales (30-2, 13 KOs) stopped him with mere 16 seconds left in the 11th round.

Tapales, bloodied in the fourth with a cut over his right eyebrow, trailed Omori after the ninth by a slim 86-85. But a strong rally saw Tapales decking Omori in the 10th to grab a 95-94 margin going to 11th.

If it was any consolation, Tapales’ victory rendered the title vacant while redeeming himself somewhat from the shame of losing a crown before he could even climb the ring.

Why Tapales had gone amiss, is mindboggling. Winning a world title is every boxer’s dream. To throw it away at the scales is simply pure stupidity.

Does Tapales want to follow in the footsteps of Manny Pacquiao, who had to suffer the same fate en route to winning eight unprecedented world crowns in eight different weight categories?

But there’s only one Pacquiao. So, to Tapales, good luck.