Malcolm Tunacao Stops Hidenobu Honda in Five Rounds

by Ronnie Nathanielsz

In a battle of southpaws the Philippines Malcolm Tunacao retained his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation  bantamweight title with a 5th round TKO over Japan’s Hidenobu Honda at the Bunka Hall in Kobe on Tuesday evening.

Tunacao, the former WBC flyweight champion was making the second defense of the title he won with a twelfth round split decision over Seung Suk Chae of Korea on February 6 of this year.  Tunacao successfully defended his title for the first time with a twelve round unanimous decision over Japan’s Kohei Oba on July 11.

With the win the 31 year old Tunacao improved to 27-2-3 with 16 knockouts while the 35 year old Honda dropped to 33-8 with 15 knockouts.

Honda who was ranked No. 10 by the OPBF was coming off a 9th round TKO victory over Thailand’s Kongthawat Sithsaithong last May 9.

Tunacao is ranked No. 8 by the WBC, No. 10 by the IBF and No. 13 by the WBA. He is expected to move up in the ratings following his impressive stoppage of Honda at 1:28 of the fifth round.