Former unified world super-bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales is getting premium preparation for his impending shot at a world crown.

While he doesn’t have a scheduled fight yet, the Filipino southpaw is serving as one of the sparring partners of undisputed champion and pound-for-pound king Naoya “Monster” Inoue in Tokyo.

Inoue is revving up for another defense of all four major belts against Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev on 14 September at the IG Arena in Nagoya.

Akhmadaliev lost to fellow lefty Tapales on a split decision when he was the World Boxing Association (WBA) titlist and Tapales was the International Boxing Federation (IBF) titleholder.

The win propelled Tapales to a crack at Inoue’s four straps in December 2023 in Tokyo and the Japanese took him down in ten rounds to become undisputed.

JC Mananquil, who manages Tapales, believes the sparring stint, which will compensate the 33-year-old from Lanao del Norte, is going to make Tapales a much better boxer.

“Yes you can never stop learning even how old you are as we can see with our hero Manny Pacquiao. He said it’s a good learning experience for him with Inoue. He is getting some techniques from Inoue.”

Tapales is the leading contender in the IBF and his is rated No. 2 by the World Boxing Council and No. 7 by the WBA as well.

“As we all know all super bantamweights are waiting for Inoue as he holds all the belts. But we will keep Marlon busy. Me and Sean Gibbons have talked about having Marlon another fight on October.”

Tapales, who holds a 40-4 win-loss card with 21 knockouts, last fought in General Santos City last April.