Ancajas sets sights on U.S. fight

Plans are underway for Jerwin Ancajas to proceed with the tenth defense of his International Boxing Federation (IBF) even as Japanese promoters called for a postponement of his 31 December unification battle with Kazuto Ioka in Tokyo.

Shisei Boxing Gym, which represents Ioka, decided late Friday to call off the Ancajas-Ioka showdown at the New Ota City Gymnasium following the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Authorities in Japan issued an order to ban foreign arrivals for 30 days to prevent an outbreak of the highly-contagious strain of the coronavirus.

Sean Gibbons, whose MP Promotions was co-staging the event alongside TGB Promotions and Shisei Boxing Gym, told Daily Tribune that Ancajas’ hard work and sacrifices won’t go down the drain.

“Jerwin’s staying (in Los Angeles) and, hopefully, (will be) fighting in the USA (under Premier Boxing Champions) hopefully in January,” Gibbons said.

There is no telling when the Japan travel ban is going to be lifted.

For most of the pandemic, Japan closed its borders to non-residents.

Aware of the uncertainty of the times, Gibbons is looking for other options for the southpaw Ancajas.

The New Year’s Eve slugfest had all the trappings of a classic encounter.

Ancajas packs a 33-1-2 record with 22 knockouts while Ioka, Japan’s one and only four-division champion, sports a 27-2 slate with 15 knockouts.

The scrapping of the Ancajas-Ioka clash didn’t come as a surprise.

A day before Shisei Boxing Gym issued an official announcement of the postponement, the organizers of the Skating Grand Prix slated 9 to 12 December in Osaka likewise called it off. Less than 24 hours later, another major fight card taking place on 29 December starring Kazakh legend Gennady Golovkin against Ryota Murata, also in Tokyo, was also postponed.

“Team Ancajas was looking forward to this historic fight against

Ioka but understands there are bigger concerns than boxing in Japan and the world with the situation caused by the emergence of the latest variant,” Gibbons said from Los Angeles.

Still, Gibbons swears Ancajas is looking forward to facing Ioka once travel restrictions ease.

“We remain committed to making this fight happen as soon as possible in Japan,” he added.