It’s been more than a week but Filipino promoter JC Mananquil was still hurting from Melvin Jerusalem’s heartbreaking loss of his world title.
Speaking from Los Angeles where he has been staying since the third week of May, Mananquil thought Jerusalem was doing just fine until the roof began to cave in starting the fourth round of his clash with mandatory challenger Oscar Collazo of Puerto Rico in Indio, California.
“It was really weird because of how he was doing (in the first three rounds) and it suddenly changed,” Mananquil said.
Jerusalem was actually in the thick of the fight during the first nine minutes of action then began to slide starting the fourth frame until he was forced to quit on his stool going into the eighth round.
“The change of culture could be one thing and the short time (he was in the US),” he added.
Jerusalem set foot on American soil ten days before the 27 May showdown with the undefeated Collazo.
The Bukidnon-born fighter set up a training camp in Cebu for a month and transferred to Japan where he stayed for four weeks before returning to Cebu.
‘The change of culture could be one thing and the short time (he was in the US).’
Originally, Jerusalem was planning to fly to Los Angeles in the first few days of May but his visa could only be delivered sometime mid-May.
His trainer Michael Domingo said Jerusalem couldn’t sleep well and was still jet-lagged by the time he fought at the Fantasy Springs Casino and Resort.
No wonder, there is ample reason why Manny Pacquiao travels to the US way, way ahead of a scheduled fight.
Aside from the lack of time to get used to the new time zone, Jerusalem seemed to be super happy to be in the US that he lost focus.
Well, there have been some fighters who came to the US on short notice but still performed and won their fights.
But it doesn’t work that way often.
Jerusalem’s one clear example.
