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| Luis Castillo and Melvin Jerusalem face off less than a week before their world title fight in Mandaluyong. Ivan Saldajeno |
MANILA—After shocking Nagoya with a victory against erstwhile undefeated Yudai Shigeoka, Melvin Jerusalem is taking on another unblemished opponent for his first defense of the WBC minimumweight championship.
Jerusalem is staking his 105-pound title belt against mandatory challenger Luis Castillo of Mexico in the first world title bout hosted by the boxing show Blow By Blow in the MP Promotions era.
This time around, though, Jerusalem has the home crowd with him as his title defense will take place on Sunday night at the Mandaluyong City Colleges.
Jerusalem even told Dugout Philippines after the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum that he is excited that some of his friends are flying all the way from Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon to support him.
"Maraming dadayo dito galing Mindanao at Cebu para manood ng laban," Jerusalem said.
"Excited ako kasi dati sa TV lang sila nanonood pero ngayon nandito sila."
Castillo boasts a record of 21 wins with 13 knockouts and one draw, and he won his 15 bouts since settling for a stalemate with Angel Guevara in 2017.
Castillo, though, settled for unanimous decision wins in three of his last four bouts, and for the first time, he is literally fighting on the road after he began carving his career in his home country.
"This is my first time fighting outside the country of Mexico and in the Philippines. I just prepared for this fight, and I'm very motivated to win the championship. I'm going to take the championship home to Mexico," Castillo said during the main press conference in Spanish.
A total of 15 bouts are scheduled in the Jerusalem-Castillo fight card, which also includes Jerwin Ancajas' homecoming fight.
Fighting in the Philippines for the first time in eight years, Ancajas takes on Thai veteran Sukpraserd Ponpitak in a 10-round supporting bout.
Ancajas looks to rebuild a winning streak after losing three of his last four matches, including a knockout defeat to Takuma Inoue, the brother of Japanese boxing superstar Naoya Inoue, last February.
Speaking of Japanese, Kiyoto Narukami is flying to Mandaluyong as well on Sunday night as he battles Filipino Jaybie Ignacio in a six-round contest.
At the same time, Mexican pug Angel Sandoval faces Marsolo Pandian in another six-rounder.
Both Narukami and Sandoval are coming in with perfect records.
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