The previously undefeated World Boxing Council minimumweight champion Yudai Shigeoka of Watanabe Boxing Gym suffered two knockdowns en route to a 12-round split decision loss to sixth-ranked challenger Melvin Jerusalem of the Philippines and failed to retain his title on March 31 as the main event of ‘’3150FIGHT vol.8’’ in Nagoya.

  Fighting at Nagoya Congress Center, the left-handed Shigeoka, who was making his second defense of the title he captured in April last year, got off to a bad start as Jerusalem landed sizzling body shots late in the round.

  The 30-year-old Jerusalem, a former World Boxing Organization minimumweight champion, also showed his mettle in the third round with a beautiful counter right to the head, which dropped the 26-year-old Shigeoka for a mandatory eight count.

  While Shigeoka rallied in the fourth round with counter lefts, all three judges had Jerusalem ahead by one point at the end of the fourth round, and Jerusalem also scored a knockdown in the sixth round with a well-timed straight right.

At the end of the eighth round, two of the three judges had it 77-72 in favor of Jerusalem while the remaining judge saw it dead even at 75-75.

  Aware he is behind on points, Shigeoka moved forward while throwing punches in the remaining rounds, although he failed to land decisive blows. Jerusalem appeared visibly tired and threw few powerful punches.

  After the hard-fought battle, two judges scored the fight 114-112, respectively for Jerusalem, while the third judge saw it 114-113 for Shigeoka.

  Yudai now has a record of eight wins, including five KOs, against a loss. Jerusalem improved his record to 22 wins, including 12 KOs, against three losses.