STORY OF PHILIPPINE BOXING PART LV: JERWIN ANCAJAS, THE LONGEST REIGNING CURRENT WORLD SUPER FLYWEIGHT CHAMPION
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 02 Jul 2020
Jerwin Ancajas was born on New Year's Day January 1, 1992 in Panabo City in Davao del Norte. He was introduced to boxing in the second grade by his brother Jesar.
Jerwin won many national championships, including the Palarong Pambansa. When he turned professional at the age of 17, he had compiled an amateur record of 90-5.
Ancajas had his professional debut on July 27, 2009 with a 1st round TKO win over Reynaldo Buluan at Polanco, Zamboanga del Norte.
Then he won his next fights over Sherwin McDo Lungay by 1st round TKO, Jimmy Paypa by MD, Leo de Guia by UD, Redney Quezon by 6th round TKO, Leo de Guia by UD in a rematch, Julius Agcopra by 6th round TKO, Menard Zaragosa by UD, Pit Anacaya by UD, Rex Tito by UD, Jason Egera by 8th round TKO and Rodel Quilaton by UD.
He had a technical draw with Ervin Yamo on May 15, 2010 at the Cebu Coliseum, Cebu City.
On August 27, 2011, he fought his first foreign opponent Jing Xiang of China and won by a 10 round unanimous decision at the People's Stadium, Tianjin, China.
Ancajas suffered his first loss in his 15th pro bout, losing a majority decision to Mark Anthony Geraldo for the WBO Asia Pacific youth junior bantamweight title on March 17, 2012 at the Hoops Dome, Lapu-Lapu City.
He recovered from the loss and defeated John Paul Bautista by 3rd round TKO on 12 August 12, 2012 at the Yñares Sports Arena, Pasig City.
Then he stopped Miguel Tamayo by 10th round TKO on September 21, 2012 at the Cuneta Astrodome, Pasay City.
Ancajas again travelled to China and won over Runlong Xu by TKO in the 4th round on December 21, 2012 in Haikou.
He defeated Armando Casa via 4th round TKO on August 30, 2013 at the Lucena City Recreational Gym and seized the Philippines Luzon Professional Boxing Association bantamweight title.
On December 14, 2013, he knocked out Ryan Bongcawil in the 2nd round at the Lagao Gym, General Santos City.
Another stoppage victim was Thailand's Inthanon Sithchamuang by 2nd round KO on February 22, 2014 at the Cotai Arena, Macau.
Ancajas knocked out another Thai fighter Petchwanchai Sor Visetkit by 1st round KO on May 3, 2014 at the University of South Eastern Philippines, Davao City. He won the IBF Pan Pacific junior-bantamweight title.
His 21st win was another 1st round KO, this time against Indonesia's Rachmat SantosoTKO on August 23, 2014 at the Almendras Gym, Davao City.
Ancajas annihilated Tanzania's Fadhili Majiha by 3rd round KO on November 23, 2014 at the Cotai Arena, Macau.
He demolished two countrymen all by knockouts. Juan Purisima was stopped by 9th round KO in General Santos City and Paul Apolinario by 1st round KO in Taguig City. He had eleven straight KO wins.
Jerwin Ancajas captured his IBF belt by defeating McJoe Arroyo in 2016 in Taguig City.
He became the IBF junior bantamweight champion when he outboxed Puerto Rico's McJoe Arroyo on September 3, 2016 at the Philippine Navy Gym in Taguig City. He entered the match sporting an 11-fight win streak. He dropped the foreigner in the 8th round to win by unanimous decision. The scores were 118-109 115-112 and 117-110.
Ancajas made his first defense successfully, retaining the IBF junior bantamweight championship on January 29, 2017, pounding Mexican José Alfredo Rodríguez by technical knockout at The Venetian in Macau, China.
Ancajas pummeled Rodriguez with right jabs and left crosses and the challenger was unable to continue due to injury after the 7th round when the doctor recommended that Rodriguez's shoulder was impaired and could not continue fighting.
Ancajas again defended his title against Teiru Kinoshita of Japan at the Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia on July 2017, on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn. Ancajas battered Kinoshita, opening a cut over his right eye and pummeling his body, before dropping him in the 7th round with a powerful right hook.
Ancajas (L) connects at Kinoshita.
Kinoshita, who had never been stopped before as a professional, beat the count but the referee Ignatius Missailidis waved off the fight, giving Ancajas a TKO win at 1:53 mark.
On November 18, 2017, Ancajas defeated Jamie Conlan with a 6th round TKO at the SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland, the home of the Irish foe. Conlan was battered since the opening round, and was knocked down by a big body shot. He was floored again three more times in the third, fourth and sixth rounds until referee Steve Gary stopped the fight.
Ancajas drops Conlan.
Jerwin Ancajas fought his U.S. debut successfully, defending his IBF super flyweight title on February 3, 2018 2018 at the American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas, stopping an overmatched Israel Gonzalez in the 10th round.
Gonzalez went down less than a minute in the 1st round by a walloping left hand from Ancajas. In the 10th round, Gonzalez was floored again on a left hand, but he was back on his feet before another thundering left caught him and knocked him down, with the referee this time ending the punishment.
According to CompuBox, Ancajas landed 130 of 477 of his total punches for a 27% accuracy, and 84 of 231 of his power shots for 36%. Gonzalez landed just 48 of 303 of his total punches for only 16%, including 46 of 202 of his power shots for a 19% rate.
Ancajas after he outworked and outscored fellow Pinoy Jonas Sultan to retain his IBF Super Flyweight World Championship, Saturday evening (Sunday morning, Manila time) at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno, California.
On May 26, 2018 at the Save Mart Center, Fresno, California, the first all-Filipino boxing world title bout since Pancho Villa versus Clever Sencio back in 1925 pitted Jerwin Ancajas and Jonas Sultan on a 12-round match that lived up to expectations. Ancajas' height and reach advantage kept Sultan at bay.
But Sultan went on an aggressive assault scoring short punches with a big shot that shook the champion in the third. However, after 12 rounds, Ancajas earned the unanimous decision win, 119-109, 119-109, and 117-111. Ancajas scored his fifth consecutive successful title defense of his IBF super flyweight title.
Ancajas fought to a split draw with Mexican challenger Alejandro Santiago Barrios at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California on , September 28, 2018. After 12 rounds, the 3 judges scored the bout 116-112 for Ancajas, 118-111 for Santiago and 114-114 even. The Manny Pacquiao protégé had his 17-fight winning streak broken as the fight resulted in a second draw of his professional career.
Ancajas recovered his previous fierce fighting style and battered Japanese Ryuichi Funai to win by stoppage and defended his IBF super flyweight title at the Stockton Arena, Stockton, California on May 4, 2019. He landed sharp punches for 6 rounds, making the Japanese groggy several times and bloodying his face in the 4th round.
Jerwin pummeled Funai with timely combinations that opened his cuts again causing blood to flow once more. The doctor asked referee Ed Collantes to stop the one-sided match after the 7th round bell rang.
Ancajas scored a 6th round TKO of Miguel Gonzalez of Chile to retain his IBF title on December 6, 2019 at the Auditorio GNP Seguros, Puebla, Mexico. He controlled the whole fight since the start and had no problem defeating the challenger.
Ancajas demolished an ill-fated Gonzalez in the sixth round when the fight was halted. The time of stoppage was at the 1:53 mark.
Ancajas is the world's longest reigning current super flyweight champion, having ruled the IBF junior bantamweight division in 3 years and 10 months.
Román "Chocolatito" González of Nicaragua is WBA champion for four months with no defense yet. Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico is WBC champion for 1 year and 2 months with 1 defense. Kazuto Ioka of Japan is WBO champion for 1 year with 1 defense.
Khaosai Galaxy of Thailand holds the all time record in the super flyweight or junior bantamweight with seven years as WBA champion, defending the title 19 times with 16 KO wins.
Jerwin has made eight title defenses and his professional record stands at 31-1-2 with 21 knockouts.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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