MELVIN Jerusalem retained the WBC minimumweight title after a dominant win over Yudai Shigeoka on Sunday night at the Aichi Sky Expo in Nagoya, Japan.
There were no knockdowns in the 12-round rematch, but the Filipino champion was the better fighter between the two, repeatedly punishing his Japanese challenger with vicious combinations on the way to scoring a unanimous decision.
READ Jerusalem beats Shigeoka for WBC title on Easter Sunday
The scores were 118-110 (Joseph Gwilt), 116-112 (Thawut Pheumsamsan), and Chris Tellez (119-109).
The 31-year-old Jerusalem won the title last year by dethroning Shigeoka via split decision also in Nagoya, where the native of Bukidnon twice knocked down the Japanese in the third and sixth rounds, respectively.
He defended the title in Manila and won by unanimous decision against previously undefeated Mexican Luis Castillo, before setting the rematch with Shigeoka.
Trained by Michael Domingo and fighting out of Sanman boxing under JC Mananquil, Jerusalem raised his record to 24-3 with 12 KOs.
Shigeoka, 27, suffered his second career loss – both at the hands of Jerusalem – in 11 fights (5KOs).
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