Jerwin Ancajas Wants To Be King At Junior Bantamweight
IBF World Jr. Bantamweight champion Jerwin Ancajas (32-1-2, 22 KOs) is the longest-reigning titleholder among any of the current world champions in the division! Having won the title in September 2016, he has made nine successful title defenses.
Unfortunately for the 28-year-old from Panabo City, Philippines may be the least respected of the world champions in the division.
According to both ESPN and Ring Magazine, Ancajas ranks below WBC champ Juan Francisco Estrada and WBA champion Roman Gonzalez. The consensus among observers and pundits is while the Filipino is a solid world champion, he doesn’t carry any of the qualities to put him in the category of the elite.
HE WANTS ALL THE SMOKE
Given that backdrop, Ancajas is hungry to prove that he’s the man. During a Zoom interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, he stated his goal is to unify the division.
“I want to become the undisputed champion. But I think that’s a difficult achievement to get because even though the other champions say that they want to fight me or I say that I want to fight them, the fights still depend on the promoter.
“There are promoters who want to protect their fighters, that’s what I’ve come to learn in boxing.”
It is one thing to say, but another thing to accomplish. Ancajas signed to ESPN/Top Rank while both Estrada and Gonzalez are with Matchroom. WBO champion Kazuto Ioka is promoted by TLA Rock Entertainment.
This sport is a business and to become an undisputed champion is difficult to do, given all the dealings behind the scenes and cutting through the boxing red-tape.
What’s on the immediate horizon for the Filipino is a September title defense against Jonathan Rodriguez. The two were scheduled to fight in November 2019, however, Visa issues from Rodriguez postponed the bout.
If Ancajas is successful, promoter Bob Arum has eyes on a fight between him and WBA “Regular” champion Joshua Franco. The latter is fresh off an upset win over Andrew Moloney on June 23.
When asked about potentially facing Franco, Ancajas is excited at the prospect of the potential match-up.
“We’re excited because he holds the WBA title and I was really surprised with how Franco fights. He’s a fighter that you shouldn’t overlook even if you don’t know him that well.
“We haven’t seen much of Franco but he has the skills and he’s good. I’m really excited to match up against him.
“My dream is to unify my belt with at least one more then maybe I’ll move up in weight”.
By: Michael Wilson Jr.
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