Jerusalem suffers 7th-round stoppage, loses WBO world title

Boxing
Boxing

MELVIN Jerusalem lost his World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimumweight belt following a seventh-round stoppage in the hands of mandatory challenger Oscar Collazo on Sunday, May 28, 2023, at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California.

The 29-year-old Jerusalem was unable to continue and didn’t come out of his stool for the eighth round, giving Collazo the win.

Jerusalem started out strong. He moved fast and was throwing quick combinations. Jerusalem started to connect with his combinations in the second round. He landed a right straight that bothered Collazo. The 26-year-old Puerto Rican answered with a solid left straight.

Jerusalem mixed it up in the third round and landed shots to the body and a left hook to the head.

The fight turns around in the fourth round as Jerusalem missed his target and Collazo stunned him with his counterpunches.

Collazo gained some momentum in the fifth round and connected with his combinations, while Jerusalem’s work rate went down and rarely threw any punches. In the sixth round, Collazo rocked Jerusalem with a solid left to the head. Collazo battered Jerusalem with some vicious combinations in that round.

In the seventh, Jerusalem looked sloppy and flat-footed. Collazo capitalized on it and continued to throw some powerful combinations that found the target. He connected with a left hook that rocked Jerusalem.

During the break of the seventh, Jerusalem’s coach Michael Domingo signaled to the ring official that his fighter couldn’t continue with the fight.

“He couldn’t move,” Domingo told SunStar Cebu of the reason why they waved the flag. “He really had a hard time recovering.”

Jerusalem dropped to 20-3 with 12 knockouts, while Collazo remained unbeaten with 7-0 with five knockouts.

Jerusalem won the WBO minimumweight title in Japan last Jan. 6 after dethroning Masataka Taniguchi with a second-round stoppage. This was his first title defense and his first fight in the US.

With Jerusalem’s loss, the Philippines is left with only one world champion, World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation minimumweight titleholder Marlon Tapales. (EKA)

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