Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs Marlon Tapales takes place at the Boeing Center at Tech Port, San Antonio, Texas on the Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez vs. Cristian Gonzalez fight card, and will be shown on the DAZN Live streaming service on April 8th.
Murodjon ‘MJ’ Akhmadaliev comes from Uzbekistan and is 10-0 with 8 wins by knockout. He currently hold the WBA and IBF super bantamweight titles and is a Bronze medalist in the 2016 Olympics.
MJ, 28, is ready to unify all the belts at 122-pounds but first he must defeat tough Filipino former world champ, Marlon Tapales.
Tapales (36-3, 19 KOs) comes from the Philippines and is known by the nickname “Maranding Nightmare.” The 31-year-old Filipino southpaw is promoted by Manny Pacquiao and held the WBO bantamweight title. Tonight he is looking to become a to-division world champion.
MJ and Tapales are both southpaws so this could get tricky in the ring since lefties rarely fight each other and are used to facing orthodox fighters and giving the trouble. Whoever is more comfortable fighting a fellow southpaw should have the advantage but other intangibles come into play like heart, stamina, experience and ring IQ.
The main event is also a world title fight featuring Texas native Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez taking on Cristian Gonzalez for the vacant WBO flyweight championship.
Fight Card
Flyweight Championship – Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez vs. Cristian Gonzalez (vacant WBO title)
Super Bantamweight – Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs. Marlon Tapales (WBA and IBF titles)
Featherweight – Raymond Ford vs. Jessie Magdaleno
Super Featherweight – Thomas Mattice vs. Ramiro Cesena
Super Bantamweight – Jesus Martinez vs Jose Lopez
Light Heavyweight – Khalil Coe vs James Quiter
Lightweight – Marc Castro vs Ricardo Lopez
Middleweight – Israil Madrimov vs Raphael Igbokwe
The broadcast takes place on Saturday, April 8, 2023, at 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT on DAZN, Before The Bell Prelims Live Stream begin at 5:15 pm ET / 2:15 pm PT on YouTube.
