SOME good things never last. In the case of Melvin “Gringo” Jerusalem, the good times lasted for just about four months.

In January, Jerusalem stunned the boxing world when he knocked out Japanese Masataka Taniguchi to win the World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimumweight (105 pounds) championship.

Jerusalem flattened Taniguchi with a picture-perfect right straight in the second round.

It was Jerusalem’s second shot at the world title. In January 2017, he dropped a close but unanimous 12-round decision to Thai Wenhang Menayothin for the World Boxing Council minimumweight crown.

It took Jerusalem some six years to fight for the world title again.

Jerusalem’s career actually took a topsy-turn after the loss to Menayothin.

He lost a decision to countryman Joey Canoy in his next fight (July 2017) and seemed disinterested in boxing.

Jerusalem, though, was dealing with domestic issues at the time. About a year before the Menayothin fight, Melvin’s father Bienvenido died in his sleep.

Fortunately, Jerusalem got his act together and worked his way back to title contention. Jerusalem made good on his second try with the huge win over Tanaguchi.

Unfortunately, Jerusalem was still trying to fit the world belt around his waist when the WBO ordered him to make a mandatory title defense against Oscar Collazo of Puerto Rico.

Collazo entered the bout with only six pro fights, but he was still pegged as the favorite owing to his impressive fight resume.

Collazo, 26, won five national amateur titles in his native Puerto Rico and a gold medal in the 2019 Pan American Games. He turned pro in February 2020 and in only his fifth pro contest (July 2022) defeated Filipino and former world champion Vic Saludar.

Within four months after winning the WBO title, Jerusalem was back in the ring. The fight with Collazo marked Jerusalem’s debut in the United States.

Jerusalem held his own in the first three rounds of the fight, but Collazo started to break him down in the fourth round with vicious right hooks to the body coupled by jarring lefts to the head. The body shots immediately took their toll as Jerusalem started to backpedal.

In the fifth round, Collazo stunned Jerusalem with a left. In the sixth, Collazo reduced Jerusalem into a punching bag. In the seventh frame, Collazo went full throttle, pelting Jerusalem with shots from different angles.

Jerusalem tried swinging for the fence, unleashing some wild right hands that turned out to be his last hurrah. Before the end of the seventh round, Jerusalem fell on the canvas. Referee Ray Corona ruled it a slip, but it was clear Jerusalem’s fuel tank was already drained.

Jerusalem did not come out for the eighth round, giving Collazo the victory by seventh round stoppage.

Collazo became the youngest Puerto Rican to become a world champion. He pulled off the trick in his seventh pro fight. The previous record was held by Puerto Rican Alex Sanchez, who captured the WBO minimumweight title in his 12th pro fight in December 1993.

For the record, the all-time record is held by Thailand’s Saensak Muangsurin, who won the WBC junior welterweight (140 pounds) championship in only his third pro fight in July 1975.

In June 2014, Ukraine’s Vasyl Lomachenko duplicated Muangsurin’s accomplishment by beating Gary Russell Jr. for the vacant WBO featherweight (126 pounds) championship.

While Collazo became the fastest to win a world title in Puerto Rico, Jerusalem’s title reign turned out to be one of the shortest in Philippine boxing history.

Former Filipino world champ Roberto Cruz had an even shorter reign than Jerusalem. In March 1963, Filipino Roberto Cruz knocked out Battling Torres in one round to win the WBA junior welterweight plum. Just three months later, in June 1963, Cruz lost the WBA title to American Eddie Perkins via a 15-round decision.

Jerusalem’s record dipped to 20-3 with 12 knockouts. He is still only 29 years old and a return to the ring cannot be discounted.

Then again, the loss to Collazo marked the first time Jerusalem was stopped and some soul-searching may be in order.

Jerusalem earned $114,000 dollars or P6.3 million pesos for the Collazo fight. It’s Melvin’s biggest purse and one that may be enough for him to find life after boxing.

Before the fight, Jerusalem talked about securing the future of his family. He wanted to use the purse he can generate from his championship run to kickstart a small business for his mother who continues to work in a plantation.

Regardless of his next plan, Jerusalem’s title reign, though short, forever makes him part of Philippine boxing history. Nobody can take away the fact that he became a legitimate world champ.