by Ronnie Nathanielsz
Former world and Orient Pacific Boxing Federation champion Malcolm “Eagle Eye” Tunacao continues his comeback after losing by a 12th round TKO in his battle for the World Boxing Council title against champion Shinsuke Yamanaka, winning by a 5th round technical decision over Ryuta Otsuka at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
In the fight scheduled for eight rounds an accidental clash of heads opened up a nasty gash on the left eye of Tunacao forcing the stoppage at 1:56 of the fifth round. Otsuka was also cut.
Tunacao dropped Otsuka in the opening round and was in control most of the fight.
All three judges had Tunacao who fights out of Kobe, Japan and is popular among Japanese fight fans , well ahead in their scorecards at the time the fight was stopped with one judge scoring a 50-46 shutout and the two other judges scoring it handily for the Filipino southpaw, 49-46.