By ADRIAN STEWART CO
Filipino Melvin Jerusalem ended the country’s world championship drought with a second round stoppage win over Masataka Taniguchi to capture the WBO minimumweight belt at the Edion Hall in Osaka, Japan over the weekend.
The Bukidnon’s Manolo Fortich-native Jerusalem became the only active world boxing champion so far in the country following his stunning victory over the heavily-favored Taniguchi.
Taniguchi was explosive in the opening round and tagged Jerusalem with a good counter, but the Filipino fighter stood his ground and returned the favor with some good shots of his own.
Jerusalem did not waste his time showing his dominance on Taniguchi at the start of the second round as he went for the kill, hitting the Japanese with a crisp jab right straight combination to the face.
Taniguchi crashed to the canvas and still tried to get up but he was so groggy and fell another time before managing to approach the referee. Seeing enough damage, the referee waved off the fight, thus giving the victory to Jerusalem.
This was the second time that the 28-year-old Jerusalem fought for a world minimumweight title after being beaten by Thai boxer Chayaphon Moonsri for the WBC belt in 2017.
Jerusalem, who was joined by his promoter Jim Claude Manangquil of Sanman Promotions in Osaka, was emotional after the stunning victory as he thanked everyone who supported him.
“This victory is for the Philippines and for my family. This also goes out to my Zip-Sanman team. Of course, I am thankful to my coach, Michael Domingo, who worked hard with me during training camp. I will not stop training hard after this,” Jerusalem said.
With the victory, Jerusalem improved his boxing record to 20-2-0, including 12 stoppage victories. This was also the Filipino fighter’s ninth consecutive win since being beaten by fellow Pinoy fighter Joey Canoy in 2017.
On the other hand, the 28-year-old Taniguchi saw his five-bout winning streak snapped as he dropped his win-loss-draw record to 16-4-0, including 11 victories by way of stoppages./ASC, WDJ