Efforts are under way for world boxing champion Melvin Jerusalem to set up camp at the Wild Card Boxing Club for the final stage of his buildup for the mandatory defense of the World Boxing Organization minimumweight crown on 27 May.
Jerusalem is currently in Nagoya, Japan, for the strength and conditioning phase of his preparation for Puerto Rican challenger Oscar Collazo.
“He’ll spend four weeks in Japan and when he comes back, we will expedite his documents so he can head to the States the soonest possible time,” JC Mananquil, Jerusalem’s Filipino promoter, said yesterday.
Mananquil said it would be ideal for the Philippines’ only reigning world champion to arrive in America early.
“Our plan is for Melvin to spend four weeks there. If it can’t be done, at least three weeks,” Mananquil said, adding the scheduled 12-rounder will likely be held in the Los Angeles metropolitan area although Dallas in Texas and San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, have also been eyed as possible sites.
Accompanying the fighter in Japan are lead trainer Michael Domingo and another boxer, one-time world title challenger Jeo Santisima.
Jerusalem shook the boxing world early this year when he knocked out defending WBO 105-lb champion Masataka Taniguchi in two rounds at the EDION Arena in Osaka.
Mananquil said if the Wild Card can’t host Jerusalem, the fighter can set up camp at the Brickwood Boxing Club, also in Los Angeles, or hook up with other Filipino fighters in the soon-to-be-built gym of MP Promotions chief Sean Gibbons in Las Vegas.
Jerusalem, born and bred in Manolo Fortich in Bukidnon but trained in Cebu City, sports a win-loss-draw record of 20-2-0 with 12 knockouts.
The US-born Collazo, who is of Puerto Rican extraction, holds a 6-0 record with four knockouts.