Melvin Jerusalem quits on his stool, loses world title to Oscar Collazo

The Philippines is down to one boxing world champion after Melvin Jerusalem lost his WBO world minimumweight title by way of seventh-round technical knockout to Oscar Collazo this Sunday (PH time) at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.

Jerusalem opened the contest throwing jabs looking to land his patented right straight down the pipe. Collazo started attacking on top and the body in round two while the Filipino stuck to his one-two that made his foe swell below the left eye.

Jerusalem looked in the zone in round three throwing various combinations that backed the fighter from Puerto Rico. Collazo, to his credit, was game and was on the attack landing power shots of his own.

Collazo was the aggressor in round 4, catching Jerusalem with hard shots to the head and body. He continued to press the action in the following stanza, hurting the Filipino with power punches on top and the midsection.

Collazo stalked Jerusalem in round 6 throwing hard shots to the head and body with Jerusalem having little to no answer from the former’s offensive output.

Collazo landed a big left hand in round 7 that hurt Jerusalem. Sensing blood, Collazo threw every punch in the book but was unable to put his foe away. Once the round was over, Jerusalem went back to his stool and waved the white flag, earning Collazo a technical knockout victory.

The win was only Collazo’s seventh fight as a pro, improving his perfect record to 7-0 with 5 knockouts while Jerusalem was stopped for the first time in his career as he dropped to 20-3 with 12 knockouts.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News