MELVIN Jerusalem repeatedly tried to topple his opponent, but Mexican challenger Luis Angel Castillo stood his ground.
The Filipino titleholder still came away with a unanimous decision victory to retain his World Boxing Council minimumweight crown in their 12-round clash on Sunday at the Mandaluyong City College gymnasium.
The 30-year-old Jerusalem landed strong and punishing punches all throughout their fight, which saw him keeping the 105-lb title on his first title defense.
“Ilang beses na tinamaan ko talaga siya. Pero hindi siya nagpahalata. Matibay talaga iyung Mexicano,” said Jerusalem after Castillo showed resilience during their encounter.
A big crowd of delighted fans roared in approval when the three judges Shin Kyoung-Ha, Stephen Blea and Arnulfo Najera scored the fight for Jerusalem at 118-109, 120-107, 120-107.
Halfway into the bout, Jerusalem was scoring points and taking the lead from the judges’ scorecards, using his quick jabs and trademark right straight both to the head and body, but Castillo seemed unmoved at the severity of the blows he was taking at the time.
“Hindi nangyari sa laban. Hindi puwede, kasi iyung Mexicano, matibay,” said Jerusalem after Castillo seemed to hold on while he threw the biggest and most hurting blows at the Mexican.
Jerusalem raised his professional boxing record to 23-3 with 12 knockouts, while Castillo experienced defeat for the first time as he picked up a 21-1-1 slate with 13 knockouts.
Meanwhile, former International Boxing Federation world super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas prevailed via disqualification in his comeback 125-lb fight, winning over Sukpraserd Ponpitak in the co-main event of Blow by Blow.
The 32-year-old Ancajas managed to score a knockdown in the opening round with a well-timed counter right hook, with the Thai quickly recovering, getting up and finishing the first three minutes of action.
In the next rounds, the fight took an ugly turn, with Ponpitak pushing, throwing down and doing takedowns on Ancajas, angering a big crowd of fans that came to watch.
The fight was finally stopped by the referee at the 2:34 mark of the fifth round when the Thai pushed Ancajas to the ring and punched him afterwards.
“Hindi ko akalain ititigil ng referee iyung laban. Nagulat din ako sa style niya. First time ko siya makalaban. Kung beterano, alam mo na kung ano iyung panggugulang. Pero ibang level ipinakita niya,” said Ancajas, whose record went up to 35 victories and four losses.
In other supporting bouts, Cebuano bet Gabriel Santisima ruled his 122-lb encounter with General Santos fighter Jelo Bacalso at the 2:08 mark of the second round.
Another GenSan campaigner Kelvin Villanueva prevailed via a technical knockout over North Cotabato’s Jerson Arigola, who took a took a jab to the jaw in the final 1:47 of the third round of their 115-lb match.
Tondo fighter Melchor Roda won his 132-lb clash with Alabang’s Ariel Puton, who went down by technical KO at the end of the second round.
