MELVIN Jerusalem makes the first defense of his WBC minimumweight title right at home as he takes on the mandatory challenge of Mexican Luis Castillo three weeks from now.
The fight is set on Sept. 22 at the Mandaluyong City College gym as the Filipino stakes the crown he won last March via split decision against Yudai Shigeoka of Japan in Nagoya.
Fighting out of ZIP Sanman, Jerusales is one of two reigning Filipino world champions along with IBF mini-flyweight king Pedro Taduran.
Making the title fight as an special event, Manny Pacquiao Presents: Blow-By-Blow will be staging the scheduled 12-rounder alongside other marquee matchups as a special edition of the weekly television program on Cignal’s ONE Sports channel.
This marks Blow-By-Blow’s first major card featuring a world title fight, and Pacquiao can’t help but express his excitement over the prospects of a Filipino world champion risking his title on home soil against the 105-lb division’s No. 1 contender.
“This is a fulfillment of our plan when we revived Blow-By-Blow almost two years ago, seeing a Filipino figure in a world title fight right before his countrymen,” said Pacquiao, who is spearheading the slugfest that will also see the return of former world super-flyweight king Jerwin Ancajas in the undercard.
Tough Jerusalem fight
Jerusalem will definitely have his hands full against Castillo, a southpaw who is unbeaten in 23 fights, with 13 of them coming by way ok knockouts.
The native of Los Mochis in Sinalosa, Castillo, 27, is coming off 15 straight wins, including nine within the distance, since a draw in 2017.
The 30-year-old Jerusalem meanwhile, carries a 22-3-0 win-loss-draw record with 12 knockouts.
While it is Pacquiao who is leading the way in hosting the event, the eight-division champion tips his hat to the decision of a ‘heavyweight backer in Petron to help me put together this stacked card.’
“I am also grateful that the City of Mandaluyong, the city where I fought countless fights that made me a household name in the 1990s, has offered its venue to host the WBC championship bout and the undercard fights,” added Pacquiao.
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