Magsayo out of Thrilla in Manila golden anniversary celebration

September 2 ------ MELVIN Jerusalem is in, but Mark Magsayo is out. Jerusalem will still stake his World Boxing Council mini-flyweight crown in the 50th anniversary celebration of the Thrilla in Manila at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, although Magsayo would no longer be part of the Oct. 29 fight card as his title eliminator bout for the WBC super-featherweight title has been moved to a December schedule.

The 31-year-old Jerusalem defends his 105-pound title belt against South African Siyakholwa Kuse in the main event of an MP Promotions presentation that also features two-time world champion Marlon Tapales, undefeated bantamweight Carl James Martin, upcoming middleweight Weljon Mindoro, and the rising Eman Bacosa. Jerusalem (24-3, 12 KOs) retained his title early this year with a unanimous decision against former champion Yudai Shigeoka in the Japanese City of Tokoname. It was his second successful title defense.

Kuse, 22, only has a few fights under his name as shown by his 9-2-1 record (4 KOs), but decisioned Filipino former world title challenger Samuel Salva in his last fight in May of this year. Olympic bronze medalist Eumir Marcial will also be featured as he fights for WBC International super-middleweight crown to take the place to be vacated by Magsayo. ‘Yes, we’re putting Eumir for the WBC International championship,” confirmed MP Promotions President Sean Gibbons on Saturday.

The initial lineup for the fight card was released just two days after eight-time world division champion Manny Pacquiao secured the support of President Bongbong Marcos for the staging of the boxing event. Magsayo’s title eliminator against Michael Magnesi of Italy will now be held four months from now in a fight card to be promoted by Premier Boxing Champions. The Filipino (28-2 with 18 KOs) earned a shot against Magnesi (25-2, 13 KOs) after scoring a 10-round unanimous decision against Mexican Jorge Mata in the undercard of the Pacquiao-Mario Barrios bout for the WBC welterweight belt.

Magsayo had a brief reign as WBC featherweight champion. Nico Ali Walsh, grandson of the late, three-time heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, is also coming over to add nostalgia to the golden anniversary of one of boxing epic fights ever. Ali and fellow legends Joe Frazier engaged each other in a dramatic, back-and-forth heavyweight title fight on October 1, 1975 at the Big Dome, which ‘The Greatest’ won in the 14th round by stoppage after Frazier’s trainer, Eddie Futch, refused to let him answer the final round.

Source: spin.ph