By REYNALD MAGALLON
Filipino WBO minimumweight champion Melvin Jerusalem is set to face an acid test for his first title defense against Puerto Rican challenger Oscar Collazo at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California on May 27.
Jerusalem, who won the belt via a second round stoppage over former Japanese champion Masataka Taniguchi, is expected to get his hands full against his mandatory challenger in the 12-round bout.
The pride of General Santos City, though, certainly has the more professional experience sporting a 20-2 record with 12 knockouts against Collazo’s only 6-0 record with four KOs.
Jerusalem is also on a roll having won his last nine fights including the impressive TKO victory over Taniguchi last January where he displayed his vicious punching power, rocking the Japanese champion with a right straight to the face to end the fight
The Filipino champion has yet to taste defeat since 2017 or when he suffered back-to-back unanimous decision losses to Thai champion Wanheng Menayothonin and Joey Canoy.
Jerusalem, along with trainer Michael Domingo and stablemate Kevin Jake Cataraja has already landed in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 17 (Manila time) for the final stretch of their preparations for his first fight in the US.
