Bring ‘em on says Ancajas; Sultan named as potential foe
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Line them up.
Jerwin Ancajas swears he won’t back down from anyone who will attempt to bring him to deep waters, telling a pair of Manila-based scribes Sunday that he is looking forward to a long reign as International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight king.
“Wala akong aatrasan (I wont back down from anyone),” Ancajas said while attending to the deluge of messages on his smartphone following his savage 10th-round stoppage of Israel Gonzalez of Mexico at the American Bank Center.
Ancajas insists that he will gladly face whoever Top Rank will sign up to meet him as the 26-year-old southpaw expressed his desire to defend the IBF 115-lb crown as much as three more times this year.
Making the fourth defense of the IBF title he won in 2016, Ancajas was brutal in his win over Gonzalez, who suffered a total of three knockdowns in his brave but futile attempt to upset Ancajas.
Joven Jimenez, who serves as Ancajas’ lead trainer and manager, echoed his fighter’s sentiments.
“They key is to remain a active even you’re not training for a fight,” said Jimenez, adding that after a twoweek break, Ancajas will begin doing conditioning work in preparation for training camp.
The name of Jonas Sultan, the Filipino mandatory challenger, has been mentioned as a possible foe although it doesn’t necessarily follow that Ancajas will end up defending against him.
Jimenez is not ruling out the possibility of Ancajas fighting a countryman, stressing that it would be highly unfair to prevent Sultan from getting what he deserves.
“He (Sultan) earned the right to fight for the world title and let’s not take that away from him,” he said.
Still, there have been instances in the past when even the mandatory challenger doesn’t get that opportunity owing to the wheeling and dealing involving the promoter, boxing body and the fighters’ handlers.
In the end, Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum will call the shots and decide what’s down the road for Ancajas.