Melvin Jerusalem successfully defended his WBC title vs. Shigeoka

Melvin Jerusalem successfully defended his World Boxing Council (WBC) minimumweight belt after a convincing unanimous decision win over Yudai Shigeoka in their rematch on March 30, 2025, at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi, Japan. 

And like their first match, the Filipino boxer was able to take his opponent apart piece by piece right from the get-go with smooth precision.

The Pinoy boxer kept on coming with volume punches, connecting on combinations that left his opponent with a bloody nose. 

He then kept the pressure on until the last round of their fight, not slowing down as Shigeoka continuously struggled to connect with his punches.

Unlike the first match, there were no knockdowns this time around, but the dominance was still shown by the Filipino 31-year-old fighter and champion.

Judge Joseph Gwilt scored it 118-110, judge Thawut Pheumsamran had it closer at 116-112 and judge Chris Tellez saw it at 119-109. 

This is the second time that Jerusalem successfully defended his belt and further improved his record to 24-3 with 12 knockouts, while Shigeoka dropped to 9-2 with five knockouts. 

Last year, Jerusalem also won the title against Shigeoka also in Japan via split decision.

Now that Jerusalem won the fight against his Japanese foe, he dreams of a rematch with unified 105-pound titlist Oscar Collazo of Puerto Rico.

It has been almost two years since the 31-year-old Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon native was stripped of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) title in a crushing seventh-round technical knockout loss to Collazo last May 27, 2023.