JERWIN ANCAJAS - THE PORTRAIT OF A CLASSY CHAMPION
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 04 Feb 2018
Jerwin Ancajas, the young IBF World super flyweight champion from the Joven Sports Gym at Magallanes, Cavite, with his sensational knockout victory tonight in Corpus Christi, Texas is increasingly being compared to the great Manny Pacquiao.
To this writer that is not only unfair because there is only one Pacquiao and one Ancajas. They will never be the same simply because they are two different personalities. And as good as he his Ancajas is, he is still far from winning 8 weight division titles.
While it is true that they have similar backgrounds in that they came from poor families, are left handed and rose to fame, the comparison stops there.
Yes Manny Pacquiao is humble and overly generous. But in many aspects, when speaking about ?class?, he is different from Jerwin Ancajas.
I am not saying Pacquiao has no class. That is far from what I am trying to say here. It's just Ancajas is something else.
With modesty aside, over the years, I have made mouthguards for free for many Filipino fighters. Some think that I owe it to them to provide the mouthguards. Many are more are appreciative and grateful than others but no one is like Jerwin Ancajas.
From the time I took impressions to custom design and fabricate for him a two color mouthguard several days ago, I sense that there is something special about the kid. But, I just dismiss the thought as I felt he was just being shy and was just overwhelmed by the humble wall of fame at my office that is full of photos of the hundreds of fighters that I made mouthguards for. As he view wall he said: - ?Dami palang sikat dito.? (There are lots famous people here)
But tonight was the clincher.
About two hours after his outstanding knockout performance at Corpus Christi, Texas, Ancajas did something no boxer that ever set foot in my dental clinic ever did. Ancajas, using the cell phone of our mutual friend Jhay Otamias, personally called me to profusely thank me for the mouthguard I made him for the fight.
I was truly shocked by his gesture. How can a world champion be so humble to reach out to me and say thank you barely hours after his fight and in the middle of the victory frenzy that surrounds him.
The humble gesture of Jerwin Ancajas totally validated the value of all the hours I spent at my dental lab designing and fabricating free mouthguards for the Filipino fighters that came to me. His phone call to you was worth more than anything else.
In fact, it was priceless!
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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