ANCAJAS IN A TOUGH FIGHT AGAINST CONLAN SAYS ANALYST
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 13 Oct 2017
Jerwin Ancajas will have to use every trick in his book to defend his IBF world junior bantamweight title against Jamie Conlan, boxing analyst Ed Tolentino told ABS-CBN News. ?Ancajas will be in for a good, tough fight against Conlan. They call Conlan the 'Irish Gatti? in reference to slugger Arturo Gatti because the Irish challenger has the heart of a lion,? said Tolentino. The fight will be held on November 18 in Conlan?s home in Belfast, Ireland.
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Ancajas hopes to gain worldwide recognition with the bout. ?This fight is very important because Ancajas is slowly getting the attention in the international stage and he needs a good win to keep the momentum going,? Tolentino said. But the Filipino champ will be facing a solid wall against Conlan?s tough brawling style. ?Conlan is tall, around 5-foot-7, and owns a very mean right straight,? said Tolentino. ?And he?s not afraid to slug it out, to go into the trenches.?
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Tolentino suggests that it would be better for Ancajas to use his strengths to offset Conlan?s rugged offense. ?Ancajas offers a more fluid, versatile style. His jab is very reliable, he works the body and knows how to put his punches together,? he said. ?Conlan tends to stand in front of his foe to gain enough leverage for his right straight but he been caught several times because he tends to be a little flatfooted,? Tolentino added indicating that Conlan is "as tough as nails.?
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Conlan started boxing at the St. John Bosco Boxing Club in Belfast. At age 13, he started a successful amateur career. Conlan won several titles, including five All-Ireland junior titles, one National under-21 title, and one All-Ireland senior title. He also won three gold medals and one silver medal in the annual Four Nations Championship, competed in by fighters from Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. Conlan turned professional with an amateur record of 107-11.
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Conlan turned professional in 2009, winning his first bout against British fighter Anwar Alfadli on points. In April 2014, he claimed the WBO European super flyweight title with a victory over Benjamin Smoes at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. Conlan smashed the Belgian fighter and knocked him down in the sixth, before fonally knocking him out in the seventh round. In September, he defeated Mexico's Jose Estrella to wear the WBO intercontinental belt.
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Showtime televised the pay-per-view event between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor on August 26th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. There were many fans who lambasted this event and claimed that it damaged the credibility of the sport of boxing. But Stephen Espinoza, the General Manager of Showtime Sports has a different perspective. "Boxing fans are harder on their sport than any other sport and in some ways deservedly so," said Espinoza.
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Espinoza added that it was a different type of experience we rarely see and "it's a good change of pace." According to the Showtime boss, the event bring new fans into the sport, particularly young fans. "Conor has a very strong fan-base of young males, and even females, so that's a particular benefit. That there was a whole legion of teenagers who follow Conor McGregor who are now talking about boxing. It's absolutely a positive thing," said Espinoza.
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According to Nacho Beristain, former WBC middleweight world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-3-1, 32 KOs) will return to action on December. Training will begin on October 22 in Los Angeles. "He owes a lot, this is an opportunity to show the people of Sinaloa and Mexico what he can do," Nacho told ESPN Deportes. "We made it clear that we have to work hard with him.... In this fight he will come in strong and with rhythm. I hope now he shows what he has."
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Guillermo Rigondeaux has been warned that he is making ?a big, big mistake? by signing to a fight with Vasyl Lomachenko in what was considered as a dream match of two double Olympic gold medalists. Rigondeaux is moving up two divisions, from super bantamweight to super featherweight, in order to challenge Lomachenko for his WBO title in a clash of two of the top pound-for-pound fighters. According to former manager Gary Hyde, "it?s a bad idea."
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The number of fighters who have jumped up two weights to successfully win world titles is too few which includes Henry Armstrong, Roberto Duran, Roy Jones jr, Naoye Inoue and Adrien Broner. Hyde says the leap is too high for Rigondeaux who is now 37-years-old . The former manager delivered Rigondeaux to the WBA and WBO super bantamweight titles before they parted ways two years ago. ?If I was still Rigo?s manager, this wouldn?t be happening," he said.
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Lomachenko is concerned about the credit he will get for beating the smaller Cuban, despite ?Rigo? being an excellent technical fighter. He voiced his concerned to Boxing Ukraine on Rigondeaux's size: ?He is shorter and smaller than I am. No matter how I will lead this fight, I will not win anything in the eyes of the critics. In the eyes of the haters after the fight they will say, ?Well, who cares if he won he?s bigger.'"
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?There are two boxers in the ring. He may do anything he wants in the ring," said Lomachenko as quoted by BoxingScene. ?I will try to win colorfully and brightly. I will be boxing my own style. I will be trying and working hard to simply squash him!? The Ukrainian has an ultimate goal of being best boxer pound-for-pound and he said he needs to fight with Mikey Garcia, Jorge Linares and probably Miguel Berchelt.
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Guglielmo Papaleo was better known as Willie Pep and held the world featherweight championship twice between the years of 1947 and 1950. Pep fought a total of 1,956 rounds in the 241 bouts in a career which spans 26 years. His professional record was 229?11?1 with 65 knockouts. He is considered as one of the best fighters of the 20th century and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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