PINOY BOXING 6: MELVIN JERUSALEM HOPES TO FIGHT FOR WORLD TITLE AGAIN
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 10 Nov 2023
When former World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimumweight world champion Melvin Jerusalem successfully returned from a title loss with a lopsided unanimous decision win over Francis Jay Diaz on October 29, 2023 in General Santos City he hoped to come back in the world championship stage.
“I’m happy that I was able to bounce back from my loss. I will work even harder because I think I still have a lot to improve if I want to compete on the world stage. I will for whatever reason my manager, promoter and coach decide on what’s next,” Jerusalem was quoted by SunStar Cebu. “If there’s an opportunity to fight for a world title, then I’ll be ready. That’s why I continue to train hard.”
Jerusalem lost in his first title defense against Puerto Rico's Oscar Collazo on March 27 in California . He won the WBO world minimumweight title via second-round technical knockout over Masataka Taniguchi last January 6 .
Taniguchi tried to stand up but remained wobbly on his feet. The referee then decided to stop the fight at 1:04 in Round 2 after seeing the Japanese unfit to continue.
In his first title defense against Oscar Collazo (7-0, 5 KOs) he lost by TKO before the start of round 8.
The 29-year-old Jerusalem won convincingly over Diaz with great speed and heavy punch combinations to the head and body.
Jerusalem improved his career record to 21-3 with 12 knockouts, while Diaz dropped to 8-7-1 with one knockout.
Jerusalem is still highly ranked in the world ratings. He is ranked No. 6 by the WBO and No. 8 by the World Boxing Council (WBC).
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