WHAT his more illustrious compatriots failed to accomplish Melvin Jerusalem completed with aplomb by wresting the World Boxing Council minimum weight crown from erstwhile champ Yudai Shigeoka of Japan by a close split decision victory last Sunday night.
In front of a stunned hometown crowd at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, the unheralded Jerusalem set up the rousing win by knocking down Shigeoka with vicious right straights in the third and sixth rounds, convincing two of three judges that he had prevailed.
American Barry Lindenman and South Korean Jae Bong Kim ruled it 114-112 in favor of the Filipino while Australian Malcolm Bulner scored it 114-113 for the dethroned Japanese, who was making his first title defense and absorbed his first loss in nine fights.
Jerusalem raised his record to 22 wins, 12 by knockout, against three losses.
It was the second major success in the Land of the Rising Sun for the Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon pride, who also took the World Boxing Organization minimum weight title from Japanese Masataka Taniguchi with a second-round technical knockout win on Jan. 6, 2023, at the Odion Arena in Osaka.
He subsequently lost the title to unbeaten American southpaw Oscar Collazo after retiring in the seventh round of his first title defense of the WBO strap last May 27, 2023, at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California.
Managed by San Man Promotions Boxing chief JC Mananquil, Jerusalem, 30, emerged as the only current Filipino world boxing champion in taking the prestigious 105-pound WBC belt he brought back to Manila yesterday afternoon aboard a Philippine Airlines flight from the Japanese capital.
His triumph snapped a string of setbacks in Japan for Pinoy prizefighters, the latest of whom was Jerwin Ancajas, who was stopped in the ninth round by reigning Japanese World Boxing Association bantamweight king Takuma Inoue last February at the famed Kogugikan Arena.
Last December, Marlon Tapales also suffered defeat at the hands of Takuma’s famous elder brother Naoya, who knocked out the Filipino pug in the 10th round in their world unification fight for the super bantamweight crown at the Ariake Arena. This was the same fate suffered last Sunday by Jerusalem’s countryman, Jake Amparo, a last-minute challenger who went down in the second round to Japan’s undefeated Ginjiro Shigeoka who retained his International Boxing Federation minimum weight title with his 11th straight win.
Amparo, who absorbed his sixth loss in 21 fights with three draws, was a late replacement for fellow Filipino ArAr Andales, who withdrew due to an undisclosed medical issue, according to Ring TV boxing writer Jake Donovan.
