Fresh from moving up to the 122-pound division, Naoya Inoue quickly gets a shot at becoming an undisputed champion again. After successfully taking the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight titles away from Stephen Fulton at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo on Tuesday night, Filipino boxing star Marlon Tapales, who owns the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Association (WBA) Super belts, stepped up to the ring to challenge Inoue.

“I want to fight Naoya Inoue because I want to prove myself that, you know, I'm a champion,” Marlon Tapales said in front of the sold-out crowd who were mainly supporting Inoue. “Let's do this!” Inoue curtly replied in Japanese. Afterward, both Inoue and Tapales took a photo together with their belts on.

The 31-year-old Tapales, who holds a record of 37 wins, 19 by knockout, and three losses, shocked the world on April 8 when he beat Murodjon Akhmadaliev via split decision for the WBA super and IBF titles.

In a report by Spin.PH's Gerry Ramos, Akhmadaliev's camp sought a rematch against Tapales, but Tapales told the WBA that he wants to go for the undisputed title match instead.

Marlon Tapales would have still challenged Stephen Fulton if he won over Naoya Inoue, but instead, Tapales now has to deal with Inoue (25-0, 22 KOs), who basically dominated Fulton in his super bantamweight debut and knocked him out in just eight rounds.

Naoya Inoue has already beaten five Filipino opponents, namely Crison Omayao, Jerson Mancio, Warlito Parrenas, Michael Dasmarinas, and Nonito Donaire, defeating the latter twice.