CEBU, Philippines - Cebuano fighter Malcolm "Eagle Eye" Tuñacao lined himself up for a possible world title shot after scoring a sixth round TKO win over Japanese Daigo Nakahiro to retain his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) bantamweight belt last Saturday night at the Prefectural Gymnasium in Osaka, Japan.
The official time of the stoppage was at the 2:23 mark of round six.
It was Tuñacao's third successful defense since he reclaimed his OPBF bantamweight throne - a feat that earned him a major commendation in this year's 29th Sportswriters Association of Cebu-San Miguel Corporation (SAC-SMC) All-Cebu Sports Awards on February 19 at the Ayala Activity Center.
The 32-year-old Tuñacao first held the OPBF crown after beating Thai Kumarnthong Por Pluemkamol by unanimous decision on November 19, 2005 at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, but lost it by technical decision to his Japan-based fellow countryman Rolly Matsushita on January 13, 2007 at the very same arena.
The lion-hearted former WBC flyweight champion went on to regain lost pride and glamour after eking out a split decision victory over Korean Seung-Suk Chae exactly a year ago at the Mungyeong Gymnasium to once again emerge as the OPBF bantam king.
The Mandaue City-native Tuñacao now holds a 28-2-3 win-loss-draw record spiked with 17KOs, while Daigo slipped to 21-4-1 (8KOs). (FREEMAN)