MELVIN Jerusalem makes his first defense of his WBC minimumweight title before home fans by September against undefeated Mexican challenger Luis Castillo.
MP Promotions, which handles the only reigning Filipino world champion, is looking at either Manila, Masbate, or General Santos City as the possible venue for the title bout.
“Quality world boxing title will be coming soon to the Philippines, and Melvin Jerusalem, our present world champion, will be a main part of it,” said Pacquiao, the only eight-division world champion, who launched the 2nd Junior MPBL on Tuesday night.
“It’s a great timing he is holding one of the most prestigious world boxing titles - the WBC.”
Castillo, 26, is a dangerous southpaw, sporting 21 wins against one draw with 13 knockouts.
Although there's still no exact date and venue for the bout, MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons said the timing is perfect since that was what was agreed upon with the WBC when its president Mauricio Sulaiman visited the country last March.
“For pride and country this is surely a Filipino thing since long enough everytime a Filipino becomes a world champion, he’s really obliged to go to defend their belts in enemy territory,” Gibbons said.
“So Jerusalem is our last remaining hope at the moment, he is our only reigning Filipino world champion, and we need this fight to happen in the Philippines,” he added.
Dream come true for Jerusalem
Jerusalem, a former World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimum weight champion, has taken home the WBC belt from Tokyo, Japan last March 31 after scoring a split decision over Japanese Yudai Shigeoka.
“That’s really one of my dreams aside from becoming a world champion: To fight and defend my crown in front of the Filipino crowd here in our country,” Jerusalem (22-3 win-loss record with 12 knockouts) said. “I am really thrilled and excited to hear it.”
Sanman promotions chief JC Mananquil, Jerusalem’s handler, welcomed the opportunity, saying he’s willing to work with MP Promotions to co-promote the fight under the guidance of Pacquiao and Gibbons.
“Sean Gibbons and MP Promotions have provided Filipino boxers a great amount of hope for many years. They built a lot of world champions since then. So we are very grateful to join forces with them again to co-promote Jerusalem’s world title fight here,” Mananquil said.
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