A little help from his friend: Rex Tso trains with world champion for 'Battle of Victors'
Hong Kong’s unbeaten star spars for a month with WBO bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales for Saturday’s highly anticipated showdown against undefeated Japanese fighter Ryuto Maekawa
A reigning world champion has helped push Rex Tso Sing-yu to the physical limits as Hong Kong’s “Wonder Kid” completed all the hard work in preparation for this weekend’s “Battle of Victors” showpiece.
Tso’s trainer and manager, Jay Lau Chi-yuen, revealed Tso had sparred with WBO bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales at the Wakee Salud Gym in Cebu, the Philippines, for a whole month with the unbeaten Hong Kong star pushed to a whole level of fitness in readiness for his highly anticipated fight against undefeated 20-year-old Japanese fighter Ryuto Maekawa (11-0-1, 7 KOs).
The Wakee Salud Gym has produced four world champions, most recently 24-year-old southpaw Tapales (29-2-0).
Watch: Rex "The Wonder Kid" Tso tribute
Tso’s work with Tapales will definitely put him in good stead against his younger Japanese rival in the 10-round contest for the vacant WBO international junior bantamweight title (115 pounds) and the WBC Asia super flyweight title, which Tso currently holds at the Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday.
Tso was also helping Tapales prepare for the Filipino’s first world title defence against unbeaten Takuma Inoue in Tokyo on December 30. Inoue is the younger brother of Naoya “The Monster” Inoue, the current WBO junior bantamweight champion.
“Rex’s main sparring partner in Cebu was Tapales and they trained three times a week for a whole month. Rex had to adapt to Tapales speed and power as Rex was sparring against someone from a higher weight division. It was a real test for Rex, but it was really good training for Rex,” said Lau.
