Melvin Jerusalem revives PHL boxing after claiming the WBO strawweight belt

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Finally, a Filipino is once again a world champion in the sport of boxing.

After ending 2022 without a single title holder, the Philippines is back on boxing’s pedestal when the hard-hitting Melvin Jerusalem dethroned Japanese champion Masataka Taniguchi via a second-round knockout during their World Boxing Organization (WBO) strawweight clash last January 6, 2023, held at the EDION Arena in Osaka, Japan.

It was a difficult fight for the Filipino slugger as the reigning champion presented all sorts of problems in the first three minutes of their fight.

Taniguchi exposed Jerusalem’s lack of defense everytime he threw the left hook and was capitalizing on that shot until the first-round bell rang.

Eager to get back on track quickly, the Jerusalem camp emphasized that they were getting bullied by Taniguchi’s left-handed punches and urged their fighter to flip the switch and try making immediate counters.

The corner advice worked and materialized after Jerusalem deployed more head movements to avoid the raining left-handed punches Taniguchi threw.

Jerusalem then made up for his lack of offense in the second round and began running the show after hitting the Japanese with consecutive 1-2 combinations in the head and the body.

Taniguchi underwent a passive stretch in the second round and was rocked several times by Jerusalem’s sneaky right jabs.

With 1:05 remaining in the round, Jerusalem shocked the whole EDION Arena after scoring an emphatic knockout that put Taniguchi on the canvass with just one punch.

As Taniguchi was sizing up Jerusalem, the new reigning strawweight king timed a well-calculated right straight punch that went through the Japanese’s jaw.

Taniguchi failed to beat the match referee’s countdown, making Jerusalem the first Filipino champion of 2023 while also scoring the first title switch of the year.

The win helped improve Jerusalem’s professional record to 20 wins, 11 knockouts, and two defeats while Taniguchi fell to 16 wins, 11 knockouts, and four defeats.