When former World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimumweight world champion Melvin Jerusalem successfully returned from a title loss with a lopsided unanimous decision win over Francis Jay Diaz on October 29, 2023 in General Santos City he hoped to come back in the world championship stage.
“I’m happy that I was able to bounce back from my loss. I will work even harder because I think I still have a lot to improve if I want to compete on the world stage. I will for whatever reason my manager, promoter and coach decide on what’s next,” Jerusalem was quoted by SunStar Cebu. “If there’s an opportunity to fight for a world title, then I’ll be ready. That’s why I continue to train hard.”
Jerusalem lost in his first title defense against Puerto Rico's Oscar Collazo on March 27 in California . He won the WBO world minimumweight title via second-round technical knockout over Masataka Taniguchi last January 6 .
Taniguchi tried to stand up but remained wobbly on his feet. The referee then decided to stop the fight at 1:04 in Round 2 after seeing the Japanese unfit to continue.
In his first title defense against Oscar Collazo (7-0, 5 KOs) he lost by TKO before the start of round 8.
The 29-year-old Jerusalem won convincingly over Diaz with great speed and heavy punch combinations to the head and body.
Jerusalem improved his career record to 21-3 with 12 knockouts, while Diaz dropped to 8-7-1 with one knockout.
Jerusalem is still highly ranked in the world ratings. He is ranked No. 6 by the WBO and No. 8 by the World Boxing Council (WBC).
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