Ancajas, Ioka unification fight set next year

INTERNATIONAL Boxing Federation (IBF) super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas and World Boxing Organization (WBO) super flyweight titlist Kazuto Ioka are looking at a May or June schedule for their postponed unification fight in Japan.

“Jerwin [Ancajas] will be fighting in February 2022, so the Ioka unification fight can happen in May or June,” MP Promotions President Sean Gibbons told Businessmirror on Monday.

The Panabo City pride Ancajas will face Argentina’s Fernando Daniel Martinez (13-0 win-loss record with eight knockouts) in February at a still to be determined date and venue in the United States.

“It’s going to be a good fight for Jerwin [Ancajas] and we need him to stay busy for the Ioka fight, Gibbons said. “I’m still trying to get him [Ioka] though, we still have no contract.”

The unification bout was originally set for New Year’s Eve but was postponed upon orders of Japanese government because of the Covid-19 Omicron variant scare.

Ancajas, who has been training in Los Angeles, California, under Joven Jimenez since September, will be turning 30 on January 1. He’s been sparring with Mexican Francisco Rodriguez at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card boxing gym.

The 30-year-old Martinez last fought last August 13 in Dubai where he beat Mexican Gonzalo Garcia Duran via a fourth-round technical knockout. Ancajas, on the other hand, beat Jonathan Javier Rodriguez also of Mexico last April 10 via unanimous decision in Connecticut.

Ioka settled for a fellow Japanese opponent ,Ryoji Fukunaga, in the New Year’s Eve fight in Tokyo.