Melvin Jerusalem | Facebook photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — As fight night draws near, the reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) world minimumweight champion Melvin “Gringo” Jerusalem will fly to the United States after his visa was approved on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.
The Cebu-based Jerusalem, the top boxer of ZIP-Sanman Boxing Team, will make his first title defense against Puerto Rican Olympian, Oscar Collazo, on May 27, with the venue yet to be announced.
Jerusalem, in a Facebook post revealed that his visa application for the United States had been approved, clearing the way for him to make his first title defense there.
This will be Jerusalem’s first time to fly to the United States for boxing.
Jerusalem’s first title defense will happen in the United States after Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and Miguel Cotto Promotions won the purse bid last February.
With Jerusalem training in the United States, it eliminated the possibility that his title defense would be held in Collazo’s turf in Puerto Rico.
The remaining possible venues are Los Angeles and Dallas, Texas.
According to Jerusalem’s trainer, Michael Domingo, they will fly to the United States as soon as possible for acclimatization purposes and to make the most of their training camp there.
It can be recalled that Jerusalem snatched the WBO world title via a sensational second round technical knockout against Masataka Taniguchi in Japan last January.
It improved Jerusalem’s record to 20 wins with 12 knockouts along with two defeats.
In an earlier interview, Jerusalem revealed that he is confident of retaining the world title, given his experience and skills over Collazo who is unbeaten in 6-0 (win-loss) with four knockouts.
Joining Jerusalem and Domingo in the United States is the pride of Tabuelan, Cebu, Kevin Jake “KJ” Cataraja.
This will be also Cataraja’s first time to fly to the United States to train and possibly fight. Cataraja is undefeated in 16 wins with 13 knockouts.
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