Melvin Jerusalem, one of just two reigning Filipino world champions, makes the first defense of his World Boxing Council (WBC) minimumweight crown against the undefeated Mexican Luis Castillo on 22 September in Manila.
The venue has yet to be determined but Mandaluyong City is the top priority as the promoter — Manny Pacquiao’s television show Blow-By-Blow — is meeting with stakeholders this week to finalize the details.
If everything falls into place, the event will be the country’s first world championship fight in years.
Marife Barrera, who heads the weekly program on Cignal ONE Sports channel, and her assistant Len Barlas Tomas, are meeting with Jerusalem’s promoter JC Mananquil to iron out the kinks.
Also involved in the project is American Sean Gibbons, who runs Pacquiao’s MP Promotions and has close links with Mananquil’s promotional arm, SanMan Boxing.
A native of Los Mochis in Sinaloa, Castillo, 27, packs a 21-0-1 win-loss-draw record with 13 knockouts.
Jerusalem, who snatched the WBC 105-lb belt by beating Yudai Shigeoka, holds a 22-3 card with 12 knockouts.
But at 5-feet-5, Castillo will tower over the 5-feet-2 defending champion although he has to find a way to get used to the local conditions such as the weather and time difference.
As his handlers work on the fight, Jerusalem is busy getting ready for Castillo.
Under the watchful eyes of top cornerman Michael Domingo, the 30-year-old from Manolo Fortich in Bukidnon has been neck-deep in training the past several weeks.
Jerusalem and newly-crowned International Boxing Federation minimumweight titlist Pedro Taduran are the Philippines’ only world champions at the moment.
The two have one thing in common.
In winning their respective world titles, Jerusalem and Taduran beat the Shigeoka siblings Yudai and Ginjiro on Japanese soil.