SULTAN UPBEAT GOING INTO HISTORIC FIGHT AGAINST ANCAJAS
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 27 Mar 2018
CEBU CITY - Jonas ?Zorro? Sultan (14-3,9KO?s) was one of the eight boxers cited during the 36th SMB-SAC Cebu Sports Awards held Monday at the Robinson?s Galeria.
His historic all-Filipino battle against defending IBF junior bantamweight champion Jerwin ?Pretty Boy? Ancajas (29-1-1, 20KO?s) in the United States may have been moved from April 14 to a later date, but this did not dampen his spirits.
Sultan spoke briefly to this writer about his training and his chance meeting with Ancajas a day earlier during the Gabriel ?Flash? Elorde Memorial Awards night held in Mero Manila. Both boxers were awardees that night.
?We were just laughing, joking around,? Sultan said. There is a video posted on social media of the two boxers talking which has caught the attention of a lot of boxing fans here in the Philippines.
?I am still looking for more southpaws as sparring partners,? Sultan stated, ?I have sparred with Virgel Vitor, Arthur Villanueva and KJ Cataraja.? Sultan knows he needs to prepare for the southpaw champion who has four defenses under his belt.
But when pressed for his thoughts about Ancajas, he said, ?Kaya ra,? declaring his confidence that he can take on the champion.
The 26 year old Sultan won the IBF Intercontinental junior bantamweight title in 2016 by TKO in the second round against Makazole Tete in South Africa. This catapulted Sultan in the IBF world rankings.
Sultan then beat two former world champions last year ? Sonny Boy Jaro (WBC flyweight) by 8th round KO and Johnriel Casimero (IBF jr.flyweight and IBF flyweight) by unanimous decision.
It was his stunning upset against the more experienced Casimero in Cebu City that gave Sultan the mandatory contender status and the right to face Ancajas.
It has been 93 years since the Philippines first world boxing champion, Pancho Villa beat Clever Sencio by 15 round unanimous decision to retain his world flyweight crown. The fight was held in Wallace Field in Manila.
The Ancajas vs Sultan fight will be another jewel in the Golden Age of Philippine boxing.
The Cebu Sports Awards major awardees for boxing were current IBF flyweight champion Donnie Nietes and former IBF light flyweight champion Milan Melindo. The boxers who received citations aside from Sultan were Christian Araneta (WBO Oriental jr.flyweight), Joe Noynay (WBO Youth Asia Pacific junior lightweight/WBC ABCO Silver title), Mark Magsayo (WBO International featherweight), Jhack Tepora (WBO Intercontinental featherweight) and amateur boxer Denmar Cardeno.
Photo - Jonas Sultan (Left) with stablemate former IBF jr.flyweight champ Milan Melindo during the 36th SMB-SAC Cebu Sports Awards
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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