Melvin Jerusalem holding the trophy that he received from WBC. | Photo from Sanman Boxing
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) world minimumweight champion Melvin “Gringo” Jerusalem received a well-deserved recognition during the 62nd annual WBC Convention in Hamburg, Germany this week.
The Cebu-based Jerusalem received a champion’s plaque during the convention in recognition of his accomplishments in boxing, being one of the champions of the WBC.
In his speech, Jerusalem said that he was grateful and honored for such recognition.
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“Thank you for this opportunity for being part of the WBC. I’m very grateful and glad to be here. It’s a very big opportunity for me and thank God for this wonderful life. Thank you so much for supporting me especially to the Filipino boxing fans, my manager, my promoter, and to the WBC,” said Jerusalem.
The 30-year-old Jerusalem of the ZIP Sanman Boxing Team wrested the WBC world title from the hands of erstwhile champion Yudai Shigeoka in their battle last March in Nagoya, Japan.
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SPLIT DECISION
Jerusalem dethroned Shigeoka by split decision despite knocking the latter down multiple times.
Fast forward to September, Jerusalem made his first successful title defense in Manila, manhandling Mexican top contender Luis Castillo en route to a unanimous decision win.
Jerusalem, one of the only two Filipino boxing world champions, holds a record of 23 wins with 12 knockouts and three defeats.
Reports recently came out that Jerusalem was given the liberty to choose who among the top 15 minimumweight contenders he will fight next for his title defense as what the WBC announced during the convention.
However, there is a caveat as Jerusalem is still under a promotional agreement with a Japanese boxing outfit that will determine who is he going to fight next.
With this development, the looming rematch of Jerusalem and Shigeoka will be momentarily sidelined as the Japanese boxing outfit has to look for a suitable opponent for the Filipino champion.