ANCAJAS KEEPS WORLD TITLE
DESPITE going a year and four months without a fight, Jerwin Ancajas still showed he’s the big boss of his weight class. Ancajas put his vast experience to work to overcome Jonathan Javier Rodriguez’s big fighting heart for a unanimous decision victory in his ninth defense of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super flyweight belt at the Mohegan Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Sunday.
Judges Tony Paolilio, Tom Schreck and Don Trella favored Ancajas’s superb tactical fighting style to come up with one-sided scores of 115-112, 116-111, 117-110 in the 12-round world title fight organized by Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.
Ancajas dominated the bout and almost knocked out the Mexican in the eighth round. But Rodriguez came charging in the last three rounds hoping to land a lucky punch and reverse the outcome of the match that was his first shot at a world title.
Ancajas pressured Rodriguez in the corner with massive combinations to the head, knocking down the Mexican with 20 seconds to go in the eighth round. He again sent Rodriguez reeling in the ropes with a strong left hand and brutal body shots in the ninth.
“I thought he was done in the eighth round after I knocked him down, but he didn’t surrender and showed the heart of a true Mexican warrior,” Ancajas told Businessmirror after the fight that was staged without fans. “We adjusted and executed our game plan perfectly.”
Rodriguez, who dropped to a 22-2 winloss record (16 knockouts), traded head shots with Ancajas, with the Mexican’s last ditch combinations hitting their mark in the last round. Rodriguez, even landed a solid right that rocked the Filipino.
“Rodriguez gave me a good fight. He didn’t give up and he even hurt me,” Ancajas said. Rodriguez, 25, assaulted the Panabo City pride in the fight but couldn’t land
a big punch and took much of Ancajas’s pinpoint counterpunches in the first seven rounds.
Ancajas, called “Pretty Boy” in the boxing world, improved to 33-1-2 win-loss-draw record with 22 knockouts.
Mark “Mark “Magnifico” Magsayo made it a double celebration for Filipinos as he stretched his undefeated streak with a fourthround technical knockout victory over American Pablo Cruz (21-4 with six knockouts) in their non-title featherweight bout.
Magsayo improve to 22-0 with 15 knockouts.