ANCAJAS IS THE MOST DANGEROUS OPPONENT EVER FOR CONLAN
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 17 Nov 2017
IBF junior bantamweight title holder Jerwin Ancajas, who is rated No. 6 by The Ring at 115 pounds, will be the most dangerous opponent that Jamie Conlan will fight. The Filipino southpaw won by convincing decision over McJoe Arroyo last September and his two title defenses, against Joe Alfredo Rodriguez and Teiru Kinoshita, ended in impressive stoppages. Conlan describes over RingTV Ancajas as "technically gifted, does the basics brilliantly and he doesn?t make many mistakes."
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Conlan has been very appreciative of Ancajas since he was scheduled to challenge his IBF title. ?Ancajas is a good boxer and I think it?ll be a chess match, although there will be times when we?ll fight it out. It?s the toughest test of my career, but it?s something I?ve prepared my whole life for." He stated that Ancajas will be the first southpaw he will face for some time, but grew up sparring with younger brother Michael who is a southpaw and extremely gifted.
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"I?ve been used to southpaws my whole life, so I?m not fazed. We also brought in some great southpaw sparring; former world champions from Mexico, so we?ve covered all bases," Conlan added. In April 2016, he survived a double knockdown to stop Anthony Nelson in the eighth round of a very exciting encounter that was nominated by The Ring for Fight of the Year honors. The Belfast man also had an up and downer against Junior Granados a year earlier and got off the floor to outpoint Yader Cardoza in his most recent bout.
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Conlan winning a world title in front of his home crowd would be a dream come true and totally surreal for him. "To do it in front of the people who have paid their hard-earned money to watch me in floater fights, after the main event, when everyone else had gone and they stuck around. It would be fantastic, not just for me but for the people of Belfast and my friends and family,? added Conlan. He hopes to see his name in one of "The Superfly" champs.
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Miguel Cotto is the biggest named boxer Saddam Ali is going to face and he is taller by about about two inches than Cotto. But the former 2008 Olympian is lighter than Cotto (41-5, 33 KOs) who has been a full junior middleweight since 2010. Ali (25-1, 14 KOs) admitted that he must be extra careful against a bigger, stronger opponent in his first fight at the super welterweight division when they climb and tussle atop the ring on December 2 at Madison Square Garden.
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?Of course I?ve gotta be more careful,? Ali told BoxingScene. ?He has tremendous power. I?m always careful in my fights, but this fight, I should be a little more careful and have my eye open a lot more and stay focused throughout the whole fight." Ali acknowleged Cotto as the bigger guy. He is moving up a weight class and this is a huge challenge for him. Ali?s only loss was handed by former WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas (27-2, 10 KOs) by a ninth-round technical knockout in March 2016.
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Cotto has fought only once after losing a unanimous decision to Canelo Alvarez in November 2015, but he was a 14-1 favorite over Ali two weeks going into their HBO ?World Championship Boxing? main event. ?It?s a huge challenge, a big step up, the biggest opponent in my career,? Ali said. ?And I?m also stepping up to another weight class. But I love the challenge and I?m ready to do whatever I have to do. I?m not really, really down in weight. I?m where I?m supposed to be, so I?m excited.?
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Deontay Wilder says Tyson Fury's win over Wladimir Klitschko is very impressive, but Anthony Joshua's win is not so much. In the fight, Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) was dropped with a hard punch in the sixth round and was seriously hurt. But he was able to regain his composure and threw a barrage to drop Klitschko twice in the eleventh for the TKO in the process defending his WBA, IBO, IBF belts. Wilder said that it?s impressive to a lot of people but the WBC champion was not impressed.
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Tyson Fury beating Klitschko while he was a champion was more impressive to him, Wilder told The42. "That?s more impressive to me than a Klitschko who?s gotten older, with a 17-month layoff, that already got beaten, coming back just to get knocked out. How impressive is that, really?? Wilder also stated that if Klitschko had Emanuel Steward in his corner during that match, he could have defeated Joshua that night. Steward passed away in 2012 and assistant trainer Jonathan Banks took over the coaching task.
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Wladimir Klitschko vs. Tyson Fury match, dubbed as "Kollisionskurs" (German for "Collision Course"), was contested for the WBA (Super), WBO, IBF, IBO, The Ring, and lineal heavyweight titles. The fight happened on November 28, 2015 at Esprit Arena, D?sseldorf, Germany. Fury was declared the winner by unanimous decision by 115?112, 115-112 and 116?111. This ended Klitschko's heavyweight reign of 9 years 7 months 6 days, the second longest in heavyweight history.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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