Jerusalem dominates Mexican challenger to keep WBC crown
CEBU, Philippines — True to his words, Melvin Jerusalem did not let his fellow countrymen down.
Jerusalem delivered a masterclass to beat Mexican challenger Luis Castillo by a lopsided unanimous decision and retain his World Boxing Council (WBC) minimumweight title in the main event of Manny Pacquiao’s “Blow-by-Blow” card on Sunday night, September 22, at the Mandaluyong City College Gym.
Performing remarkably well to the delight of home crowd, Jerusalem downed Castillo with a solid right straight to the face with 26 seconds left in the opening round.
That gave the 30-year-old brawler from ZIP-Sanman Boxing Gym much confidence to dominate the previously undefeated Mexican visitor for the rest of the 12-round bout.
The official scores were 120-107, 120-107 and 118-109 all in favor of the Bukidnon-native fighter.
It was Jerusalem’s first defense of the WBC crown he captured with a split decision win over Japanese Yudai Shigeoka last March 31 at the International Conference Hall in Nagoya, Japan.
“Hindi ko minadali ‘yung laban kasi matibay ‘yung kalaban. Matibay si Luis. Hindi ko rin inaasahan ‘yung knockdown sa first round. Ginawa ko lang ‘yung game plan at training namin buong laban at ito ang kinalabasan,” said Jerusalem, who now holds a 23-3 record spiked with 12KOs. Castillo suffered his first loss in 23 fights with one draw and 13KOs.
In the other result, former IBF super flyweight champion Jerwin “Pretty Boy” Ancajas of Panabo City made a successful comeback with a fifth-round win via disqualification against Sukpraserd Ponpitak of Thailand. — (FREEMAN)
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