WBA gives green light for Marlon Tapales to unify title with winner of Inoue vs Fulton

The World Boxing Association has given Marlon Tapales the green light to unify his WBA world super bantamweight title against the winner between WBC and WBO world super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton and Naoya Inoue on July 25 in Japan.

Tapales, 37-3 with 19 knockouts as a pro, won the WBA and IBF world super bantamweight titles when he pulled off an upset against Murodjon Akhmadaliev last April. His team is looking to face the winner of Inoue vs. Fulton next for all the belts.

"The new champion and his team asked the WBA for permission to fight the winner of Inoue and Fulton, whose bout will be on July 25," the WBA announced.

"This bout would be a unification of the WBA, IBF, WBC and WBO titles, which is a powerful reason to admit it for the sake of boxing."

A likely underdog against the winner of Fulton vs. Inoue in Japan, the 31-year-old Tapales will have a rare chance to become the first Filipino undisputed champion in boxing history should his dream fight come to fruition.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News