Sanman Signs Jerusalem, Santisima & Domingo

It looks like most, if not all of ALA Boxing Gym’s boxers have found new homes. JC Manangquil’s Sanman Promotions was the latest outfit to tend offers as they adopted world rated boxers Melvin Jerusalem and Jeo Santisima, and young prospect Esneth Domingo, in partnership with ZIP Management of Japan. The partnership seeks to bring more Filipino boxers to Japan.

Manangquil was delighted with this latest development. “We are flattered that WBC top ranked Jerusalem, WBO Oriental Champion Santisima and flyweight prospect Esneth Domingo decided to trust us. We will do our best to lead their careers into the bright direction and to guide them to reach the ultimate goal, which is to win a world title. Indeed, we are excited for these fighters,” he said.

Jerusalem (15-2, 9 KOs) is on a four-fight winning streak, and is currently ranked first in the World Boxing Council (WBC) minimumweight division (105 pounds). He challenged for Chayaphon Moonsri’s WBC world title in 2017 but lost by a razor thin unanimous decision, with scores of 113-114, 113-115 and 113-114. Moonsri continues to reign as WBC world champion and Jerusalem is aching for another shot at the world title. But he’ll need to keep busy to maintain his ranking and be rewarded with a mandatory title challenge and grudge match with the undefeated Thai legend.

Santisima (19-3, 16 KOs) fought for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight championship (122 pounds) last February but lost by technical knock-out in the 11^th round to Emmanuel Navarrete. The loss snapped a 17-fight winning streak that included title fights for the WBO Oriental super bantamweight championship. Santisima’s two other losses came early in his career when he was a greenhorn and before he joined the ALA Boxing gym. With Navarrete moving up to the featherweight division (126 pounds), Sanman is working to have the eighth ranked Santisima move up the WBO rankings to get another shot at the title.

Domingo sports a 13-1 record with seven knockouts and is coming off two straight wins, including his last fight in Vietnam, his international debut. He is an up and coming boxer whose only loss came at the hands of Alphoe Dagayloan for the World Boxing Association Asia light flyweight title. Stalled by the pandemic, his signing up with Sanman should mean the resumption of his growth as a boxer with fights lined up. He isn’t expected to break into the world rankings immediately and will be developed at his own pace.

Manangquil also bared that the three boxers will continue to train in Cebu under Michael Domingo, their trainer at the ALA Gym. “They will train most of the time in Cebu with Coach Mike. But there is a chance they’ll go to GenSan once in awhile,” he said.

Sanman Promotions is based in General Santos City and is managed by businessmen JC Manangquil and Dexter Tan. It is one of the busiest boxing outfits in the country with its top boxers seeing action in the United States regularly. ZIP Management is headed by Nobuyuki Matsuura and Mhavic Kamiyama. With this partnership, Sanman is now expected to send boxers to see action in Japan regularly.

Photo: (L-R) Melvin Jerusalem, Jeo Santisima & Esneth Domingo. (Sanman Promotions)