SPORTS FACTS AND FIGURES 67: MELVIN JERUSALEM IS WORLD CHAMPION AGAIN, WRESTS WBC MINIMUMWEIGHT TITLE
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 02 Apr 2024
Melvin Jerusalem makes Filipinos proud by becoming the first countryman to win a world title this year after he wrested the WBC minimumweight championship giving his Japanese foe Yudai Shigeoka his first professional loss in Nagoya, Japan.
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Jerusalem knocked Shigeoka down twice in the title fight, connecting a solid right in the third and another hard blow in the sixth round. But even if he went down twice, Shigeoka continued his head-on aggressiveness with Jerusalem.
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Judge Malcolm Bulner scored 114-113 for Shigeoka ahead after twelve rounds. Judges Jae Bong Kim (114-112) and Barry Lindenman (114-112) favored Jerusalem for the split decision.
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Jerusalem held the WBO minimumweight title after stopping Masataka Taniguchi in January 6 last year. He defended his title against Puerto Rican Oscar Collazo four months later in May 27 but lost the title when he retired after round seven. On January 25, 2017, Jerusalem also fought Wanheng Menayothin of Thailand for the WBC minimumweight belt, but lost via unanimous decision.
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The 30-year-old Jerusalem is now sporting a 22-3-0 with 12 KOs record. While Shigeoka suffered his first defeat and is now 8-1 with 5 KOs. Jerusalem is presently the only Filipino world champion. He stopped the Filipinos’ successive defeats in Japan including the losses of Marlon Tapales to Naoya Inoue on December 26 and Jerwin Ancajas to Takuma Inoue and Jonas Sultan to Riku Masuda on February 24.
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Prior to Jerusalem's title win, Tapales remained as the lone Filipino world titlist, until he lost his WBA and IBF crowns to Naoya Inoue in their world super bantamweight unification match last December.
In the undercard of the Jerusalem-Shigeoka fight, Jake Amparo lost in his bid for the IBF world minimumweight championship from Shigeoka's brother, Ginjiro, when he was defeated vis a technical knockout defeat in the second round.
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Ginjiro Shigeoka unleashed a booming left hand that connected in the Filipino's body, leaving him unable to stand. Amparo slipped to 14-6-1 with 3 KOs in his professional career, while Ginjiro remained unblemished in 11 career fights with 9 KOs.
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Wilt Chamberlain holds 72 NBA records, 68 by himself. Among his records are several that are considered unbreakable, such as averaging 22.9 rebounds for a career or 50.4 points per game in a season, scoring 100 points or 55 rebounds in a single game, scoring 65 or more points 15 times, 50 or more points 118 times. - Hoophall.com.
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LeBron James connected 9 for 10 beyond the arc to tie his career high for 3-pointers. He matched a season-high 40 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 116-104 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday. James played his 1,485th career game.
Photo from Sanman FB.
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