In arguably the most interesting bout on the wonderful Tokyo title trio is the WBC Bantamweight title defense of Shinsuka Yamanaka (17-0-2, 12) who faces Filipino veteran and former WBC Flyweight champion Malcolm Tunacao (32-2-3, 20).
Going in to this bout the 35 year old Tunacao will know that this will be the last major chance he will get in his career. In fact at 35 years old he is ancient for a Bantamweight and is possibly living on borrowed time as it is. Saying that however he's a fighter who knows that he's getting a chance he has been owed for a few years now.
Having been a professional since 1998 Tuncao has had several ups and downs in his career with the most notable up being an upset victory in 2000 over Medgoen Singsurat which saw Tunacao claiming the WBC Flyweight title. Sadly his reign back then was short lived and Pongsaklek Wonjongkam destroyed the young Tuncao inside a round in just his second defense.
Since losing to Wonjongkam in 2001 Tuncao has been the forgotten man of Filipino boxing despite claiming various titles including the OPBF Bantamweight title and the WBC International Super Flyweight titles. In fact since losing Wonjongkam we've seen Tunacao go 21-1-2 in his career over the last 13 years as he has fought hard against unrewarding opponents such as Kohei Oba (who Tunacao has beaten and drawn with), Rolly Matsushita (the only man to beat Tunacao in the last decade) and Christian Esquivel. In fact it was the win over Esquivel that opened up the door for Tunacao to get his first world title bout since his loss to Wonjongkam.
Interestingly Esquivel actually links the two men with a victory by Yamanaka over Esquivel being the fight that put Yamanaka on the world stage and saw him winning the WBC Bantamweight title. Prior the to bout with Esquivel Yamanaka was almost unknown in the West despite having been the Japanese champion (and despite having been in an excellent bout with Ryosuke Iwasa).
Aged 30 himself, Yamanaka is no spring chicken though having only turned professional in 2006 he's a fighter who is notably younger than Tunacao in both age and ring years.
Yamanaka is a much improved fighter to the one who drew 2 of his first 7 bouts (and could well have started his career 3-4) in fact he's now arguably one of the most under-rated champions in the sport and yet also one of the most feared. In the last 2 years or saw he not only battled the highly regarded Iwasa to a stand still but stopped the aforementioned Esquivel, out pointed Vic Darchinyan and stopped Tomas Rojas in eye catching fashion.
With his own power Yamanaka is a dangerous fighter, though we've also seen him hurt. Not only did Iwasa manage to rattle him at times but Esquivel managed to drop him in their encounter before Yamanaka stopped Esquivel in the 11th round showing his power carries through late. Interestingly however Tunacao had a much easier job with Esquivel than Yamanaka, though admittedly Yamanaka did take something out of Esquivel in their battle.
Going in to this bout we know both men can be hurt and we know both men are hard hitters. Sadly for Tunacao I can't help but feel he's facing a man who is just that bit fresher and a bit less battle scarred in Yamanaka. With this in mind I'm going to have to go with Yamanaka to score the victory and although I imagine Tunacao will put his all in to it I think he'll get stopped late.
Prediction-Yamanaka TKO10
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