‘I’d rather die than lose face’

Marlon Nightmare Tapales (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

OSAKA, Japan—Remorseful after yielding his belt for overshooting the weight limit, Marlon Tapales gambled with his life in his fight against Shohei Omori here Sunday night.

Tapales stopped the Japanese early in the 11th round in what his handlers said was his farewell performance as a bantamweight.

“Mamatay na lang, huwag lang mapahiya (I would rather die than lose face),” Tapales told reporters, three hours after denying Omori the 118-pound crown stripped from him by the World Boxing Organization for exceeding the limit on Saturday.

Hardly recovered from a week-long crash diet and total starvation from Thursday night to Saturday morning, Tapales found Omori more elusive than when he halted him in two rounds two years ago in Kyoto.

The Japanese even had Tapales in deep trouble with a wicked body shot followed by a barrage of hard punches in the fifth.

Though hurt, Tapales withstood the onslaught to take the sixth, seventh—where Omori’s face got bloodied—and eighth rounds. Switching tactics, Omori exploited his longer reach to take the ninth.

Tapales, however, unleashed a thunderous left uppercut followed by an overhand right that sent Omori down in the 10th round.

Barely beating the count, Omori, who sustained a broken jaw, was a hapless target for Tapales, but was saved by the bell. But Tapales pounced on Omori as soon as the 11th round started.