Pacland's Philippine Boxing Forum

Malcolm Tuñacao of Mandaue City earned another chance to fight for a world title when he beat Mexican Christian Esquivel by seventh round TKO in a WBC bantamweight eliminator bout held tonight at the Central Gym in Kobe,Hyogo,Japan.

The 35 year old Tuñacao becomes the mandatory challenger of undefeated WBC world bantamweight champion Shinsuke Yamanaka (17W-0L-2D, 12KO's) of Japan.

Official time of the stoppage was 2:10. Tuñacao improves to 32W-2L-3D, 20 KO's. Esquivel drops to his fourth career loss with 25 wins, 18 by KO.

Tuñacao, who is a former WBC world flyweight champion, had a brief world title reign when he dethroned Medgoen Singsurat of Thailand in only his eleventh pro fight last May 19, 2000. Tuñacao's first defense against Celes Kobayashi of Japan ended in a draw then he lost his title to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam of Thailand by first round TKO in March 2, 2001.

Tuñacao is also a former OPBF bantamweight champ. He now based in Kobe, Japan and has been waiting for a another world title shot for the past 11 years.

The 30 year old Yamanaka won the vacant title last year after stopping Esquivel in 11 rounds.He has two successful defenses under his belt against Vic Darchinyan of Australia and Tomas Rojas of Mexico.