All set for Ancajas defense in Fresno
The search for a fitting venue to stage IBF superflyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas’ historic fifth title defense against countryman Jonas Sultan has ended. After considering Las Vegas, Daly City and Palm Springs, the word is out that Top Rank has chosen the 16,182-seat Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, to host the first world championship bout between two Filipinos since William Magahin outpointed Edwin Villaver to retain the WBF welterweight crown at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in 1995.
Ancajas will stake his crown against Sultan on May 26 with WBA 115-pound titlist Khalid Yafai of Birmingham battling challenger David Carmona of Mexico in the undercard. There is talk that if Ancajas and Yafai keep their belts, they’ll square off in a unification showdown in August.
Save Mart Center is on the Fresno State campus. WBC superlightweight champion Jose Ramirez has fought thrice in the building. At first, Las Vegas-based international matchmaker Sean Gibbons said it was too big for an Ancajas fight and a more appropriate venue for a Manny Pacquiao bout. But when availability became an issue in looking for alternative sites, Save Mart stepped in to save the day. Gibbons said the Ancajas-Sultan fight is attracting widespread interest because of its unique all-Filipino flavor. Discounting the Magahin-Villaver match for the nondescript and defunct WBF crown, it’s the first world title fight featuring two Filipinos in 93 years or since Pancho Villa beat Clever Sencio in a flyweight championship bout at Wallace Field, now Luneta, in 1925.
If fans all over the world tune in to watch Mexicans take on Mexicans for a world title, there’s no reason why they won’t do it for Filipinos. In fact, WBO championship committee chairman Luis Batista Salas recently ordered two Filipinos, Donnie Nietes and Aston Palicte, to dispute the vacant WBO superflyweight crown. Salas gave both parties 10 days from April 30 to agree on a date and place for the match. If there is no agreement, the WBO will conduct a purse bid with a minimum of $100,000. The winner will then defend the title against a mandatory challenger designated by the WBO.
Commenting on the back-to-back, all Filipino world title fights, Gibbons said, “when it rains, it pours.” Gibbons is expected in Manila for the May 13 “Survival Instinct” boxing card starring Mark Anthony Barriga and Colombia’s Gabriel Mendoza in an IBF minimumweight title eliminator at the SM North EDSA Skydome.
Ancajas and his traveling party will leave for Fresno on May 15. It won’t be an easy defense as Sultan is as determined to win. Sultan earned the title shot by defeating twotime world champion Johnriel Casimero last September. A road warrior, Sultan has scored knockout victories in South Africa and Japan so fighting on foreign soil isn’t a problem. Sultan is with the fabled ALA Boxing Gym in Cebu and hopes to join stablemate Nietes in the elite class of world champions.
Yafai, 28, will make his third title defense against Carmona who has gone the distance with Japan’s Naoya Inoue and Mexico’s Carlos Cuadras. Yafai, who lost to Filipino Violito Payla in the 2007 AIBA World Championships, reached the quarterfinals of the 2008 Olympics and boasts a 23-0 record, with 14 KOs. He has fought exclusively in the UK, except for one outing in Dublin so this will mark his US debut. His last three fights went the distance, raising doubts on his ability to stop quality opponents. Carmona, 27, is coming off a win by stoppage over Jesus Iribe but before that, lost three in a row. In 2015, he was held to a split 12-round draw by Filipino Warlito Parrenas in Hermosillo. His record is 21-5-5, with 9 KOs.
Yafai, an Under-17 world amateur champion of Yemeni descent, is expected to bowl over Carmona and if Ancajas turns back Sultan, will make for an interesting opponent against Pretty Boy. Ancajas is making his second ring appearance this year after halting Israel Gonzalez in Corpus Christi last February. Ancajas’ trainer Joven Jimenez said he could do even four fights this year.