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Philippines, 26 Feb 2026 |
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MASAM SPORTS 26: MELVIN JERUSALEM NOW #1 WBO, #2 WBC, #3 IBF, AND #6 WBA MINIMUMWEIGHT CONTENDER NEARS AT WORLD TITLE SHOT By Maloney L. Samaco PhilBoxing.com Sun, 30 Jan 2022  Jerusalem. Melvin “El Gringo” Jerusalem is moving closer to getting another chance to fight for a world title. The fighter from Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon lately has been ranked the No. 1 contender by the World Boxing Organization (WBO) in the minimumweight division. The former ALA Boxing Gym standout is also marked up as the No. 2 contender by the World Boxing Council (WBC) and No. 3 by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and is likewise rated No. 6 by the World Boxing Association (WBA). He lost his first attempt at the world title bout on January 25, 2017 against Chayaphon Moonsri a.k.a. Wenhang Menayothin of Thailand for the WBC world minimumweight title by a close unanimous decision with the scores of 115-113, 114-113 and 114-113 at Phitsanulok, Thailand. Jerusalem was deducted a point in the eighth round for a low blow. Without the subtraction, the bout would have resulted in a majority draw. He said that he learned a lot from that loss that he has to stop his opponent to get a victory in Thailand. “I learned from the fight with Wanheng (Menayothin) that I really need a knockout to win against him. I need to be aggressive that time. We need to be aggressive always because that's the advantage in the fight,” said Jerusalem as quoted by CDN Sports. After losing to Menayothin, Jerusalem suffered another loss to countryman Joey Canoy by unanimous decision on July 8, 2017 at the IC3 Convention Center, Cebu City. Jerusalem recovered and seized a six-fight winning streak and won the Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) minimumweight or strawweight title by defeating Toto Landero in their rematch at Tabunoc Sports Complex, Talisay, Cebu. The judges scored the fight 118–110, 118-110 and 116–112 all for Jerusalem. He defeated the following boxers : Jestoni Racoma by UD8 on November 25, 2017 Philip Luis Cuerdo by TKO8 on June 9, 2018 Toto Landero by UD10 on November 10, 2018 Reymark Taday by TKO7 on August 17, 2019 Jayson Francisco by KO2 on December 17, 2020 Toto Landero by UD12 on July 16, 2021 for the vacant OPBF strawweight title. “Always think positive for us to win together we can persevere and pray. That knockout will just happen in the fight,” added Jerusalem. Jerusalem, who has a record of 17 wins, two losses with 10 knockouts is confident that he can get a world title fight this year, or if not, a world title eliminator. He is hoping he can earn a rematch with Menayothin for a world title eliminator. If he can successfully hurdle Menayothin, he could get a crack at the WBC world minimumweight title against the champion Panya Pradabsri of Thailand. Other options for Jerusalem could be a world title shot against WBO world minimumweight champion Masataka Taniguchi of Japan in a mandatory fight being the top contender in the WBO minimumweight division. He may also get the chance to challenge the winner between the reigning IBF world minimumweight champion Rene Cuarto and former titlist Pedro Taduran who are scheduled to clash for an All-Filipino world title rematch. He could even face WBA minimumweight super champion Thammanoon Niyomtrong a.k.a. Knockout CP Freshmart of Thailand or WBA regular champion Erick Rosa of Dominican Republic. Being ranked as contender in the four major sanctioning bodies will give Jerusalem several options to fight for the world championship. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.  |
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