Melvin Jerusalem dominates Luis Castillo, retains WBC strawweight belt by unanimous decision

Melvin Jerusalem made it look easy in the first defense of his WBC strawweight title on Sunday, outboxing the previously unbeaten Luis Castillo en route to a unanimous decision win at Mandaluyong City College in Metro Manila, Philippines. The scores were 120-107 on two cards and 118-109 on the third.

Jerusalem (23-3, 12 knockouts) scored the fight’s only knockdown in round one, dropping the taller Castillo (21-1-1, 13 KOs) on a straight right hand through the guard. Castillo beat the count but the pattern was set as the more explosive Jerusalem took advantage of the aggression from the slower, plodding Castillo to flurry and potshot at will.

The fight was the first world title fight for the 30-year-old Jerusalem of Manolo Fortich, Philippines in his home country, after winning both the WBC title and the WBO strawweight belt he previously held in Japan, and making his only defense of the WBO belt in the United States.

Jerusalem is rated no. 4 by The Ring at 105 pounds, one spot below the IBF titleholder Pedro Taduran, who is the only other current champion from the Philippines, and three spots below Oscar Collazo, the unbeaten Puerto Rican who defeated him for the WBO title last year.

The southpaw Castillo, 27, loses for the first time as a professional, though he was taking a significant leap in competition, having not fought any known contenders in his ten year career in Mexico.

In earlier action, former titleholder Jerwin Ancajas (35-4-2, 23 KOs) made his return to the ring following his knockout loss to Takuma Inoue in February, defeating Thai journeyman Sukpraserd Ponpitak (30-20, 20 KOs) by fifth round disqualification.

The fight ended after Ponpitak, who was dropped in round one by a right hook and deducted a point in the third for roughhousing, threw Ancajas to the canvas in frustration. The referee stopped the bout at the 2:34 mark, awarding Ancajas the victory.

Ancajas, 32, weighed in at a career-high 125 1/4, the same as his opponent. The win was just the second in his last five fights after his IBF junior bantamweight title reign ended in February of 2022 with a pair of defeats to Fernando Martinez.