Melvin Jerusalem poses in front of the Edion Arena in Osaka, Japan. | Photo from Jerusalem’s FB page.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Former world title challenger Melvin “Gringo” Jerusalem arrived in Japan on Tuesday, January 3, 2023, three days before his much-awaited world title duel against reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) world minimumweight champion Masataka Taniguchi.
The Jerusalem-Taniguchi battle will be held at the Edion Arena in Osaka, Japan, on January 6, 2023.
The 28-year-old Jerusalem of Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon was accompanied to Japan by Sanman Boxing’s top honcho JC Manangquil.
In terms of preparation, Jerusalem in an earlier interview revealed that he’s more prepared this time than his first world title shot in 2017 in Thailand.
It can be recalled that Jerusalem challenged the then WBC world minimumweight king Wanheng Menayothin in Thailand in 2017 which ended in a unanimous decision defeat.
Jerusalem, a former prospect of the ALA Boxing Gym spent over a month in Japan with stablemate Kevin Jake Cataraja to train with top-tier Japanese boxers.
He then returned to Cebu and had the remainder of his training camp here.
Jerusalem has 19 wins with 11 knockouts and two defeats. He hasn’t lost in eight fights since 2017.
Meanwhile, Taniguchi, 28, has a 16-3 (win-loss) record with 11 knockouts. Like Jerusalem, he is riding on a five-fight winning streak since 2019. He clinched the WBO world minimumweight title by scoring an 11th-round technical knockout victory against Puerto Rican Wilfredo Mendez in 2021.
Besides Jerusalem, several Filipino boxers have positioned themselves for a possible world title bout this year.
One of them is Marlon Tapales who will challenge IBF and WBA super bantamweight world champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
Also, Jade Bornea is set to challenge IBF world super flyweight champion Fernando Daniel “Puma” Martinez, later this year.
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