Ancajas eyes Inoue’s WBA bantamweight belt
FILIPINO fighter Jerwin Ancajas seeks for the World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight division title when he faces defending champ and home bet Takuma Inoue at the Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, February 24.
This will be Ancajas’ real acid test since moving up to the heavier bantamweight class (118 pounds) from the junior division (115), where he held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) belt (115 pounds) belt from 2016 until 2022.
Ancajas lost his belt to Argentine Fernando Daniel Martinez in February 2022 and could not get it back in a rematch in October of the same year, losing each of those matches via unanimous decision.
Back-to-back losses ultimately prompted Ancajas to move up the bantamweight class where he looked solid in his first match, scoring a fifth round knockout of Colombian Wilner Soto in June 2023 and setting himself up for a title fight against Inoue, the younger brother of undisputed champ Naoya.
More than his personal glory, Ancajas, who sports a 34-3-2 win-loss-draw record with 23 knockouts, wants to win to give the Philippines a new world champion anew after the country lost its remaining world champ in Marlon Tapales who succumbed to Naoya Inoue last December in their super bantamweight unification match.
“I’m very hungry for this, the Philippines has no world champion right now. That’s why I’m so hungry and also want to win this fight,” said the 32-year-old Ancajas during the press conference.
Ancajas shrugged off Inoue’s home-court advantage, saying that his experience fighting in hostile environments will do the trick for him.
“Experience is a huge factor, especially for me, I have been in boxing for a long time. While others get nervous [fighting in enemy territory], all I am thinking about is giving it my best.”
Meanwhile, the 28-year-old Inoue holds an 18-1 win-loss card with four knockouts and is riding on a five-fight winning streak.
The latest of that winning run was his unanimous decision win over Liborio Solis in April last year.
Inoue showed utmost respect to Ancajas, calling the Filipino as the best fighter that he’s going to face in his career.
“He is the best fighter I’ll ever face, so I want to be focused. I want to fight until the end and I want to win the fight. I idolize Ancajas,” said Inoue.
“I watched several matches (of Ancajas) and practiced against him. But there are some elements that I’m not sure about until I actually face him in the ring.”