Jerusalem taps top sparmates

A bevy of quality sparring partners are helping Melvin Jerusalem toughen up for his second defense of his World Boxing Council (WBC) minimumweight crown in a rematch with Yudai Shigeoka on 30 March at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokomane, Japan.

The Filipino world champion’s lead trainer told DAILY TRIBUNE on Saturday that topnotch sparmates have been tapped to lend a hand in Jerusalem’s quest to repulse Shigeoka’s challenge.

Michael Domingo revealed that world No. 1 light-flyweight Christian Araneta leads the cast of sparmates. The others are Eded Gura, Alex Del Rio and Japanese Kiyoto Narukami.

By the time Jerusalem and his team fly to Nagoya, Domingo expects his fighter to have logged a total of 110 rounds.

They are currently spending quality gym work as well as morning roadwork in Cebu City after Jerusalem spent 18 days in Nagoya for strength and conditioning under the tutelage of his Japanese management team led by Nobuyuki and Marivic Matsuura.

Jerusalem had dethroned Shigeoka in March last year in Nagoya on a split decision after scoring two knockdowns.

In his initial defense last September on home soil, Jerusalem had little trouble beating mandatory challenger Luis Castillo of Mexico.