Ancajas not himself in losing title
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 28 Feb 2022
IBF superflyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas’ six-year reign came to an abrupt end in his 10th defense as he fought without his usual artillery in losing to unbeaten Argentine challenger Fernando Martinez via a unanimous 12-round decision at the Chelsea event venue in the Cosmopolitan Hotel, Las Vegas, Saturday night (yesterday morning, Manila time).
Ancajas, a 5-1 favorite, stood his ground courageously but couldn’t muster the power and energy to hold off the rampaging Martinez who looked like a robotic fighting machine in throwing a stunning 1,046 punches, landing 41 percent. The Filipino unleashed 816 blows, connecting 24 percent and was clearly outworked. In power shots, Martinez delivered 833 to Ancajas’ 548. Martinez never gave Ancajas, a crafty technician, a chance to turn it into a tactical contest and barreled his way through the champion’s defense to land jarring blows to the side of the head and body.
Before the start of the 10th, referee Jack Reiss went to Ancajas’ corner to check if he was in condition to continue after absorbing a barrage of head blows in the previous round. Reiss gave his go-signal and Ancajas finished the bout gamely on his feet. The disparity in the scorecards was wide. Judge Max De Luca had it 117-111 while judges David Sutherland and Steve Weisfeld saw it, 118-110. But it wasn’t like Ancajas didn’t have his moments. In the third, Ancajas detonated a straight left that caught Martinez’ attention and the same punch nearly toppled the Argentinian before the bell rang. Martinez, however, wasn’t fazed. In the sixth, he staggered Ancajas and in the ninth, almost dropped the Filipino.
It wasn’t Ancajas’ plan to go toe-to-toe but he couldn’t consistently fire the right jab from his southpaw position to fend off Martinez. Ancajas tried to establish distance for the space to blast his jab-straight combinations. Martinez wouldn’t oblige as he neutralized Ancajas’ height and reach advantage by sticking close to his chest. Although outgunned, Ancajas never took a step back and up to the last bell, attempted to fire that big salvo to save his belt.
Martinez, one of 12 brothers, was in tears after he was declared the new champion and dedicated the victory to his late father Abel who died in 2016. It was his father who foretold that someday, Martinez would become a world champion. Ancajas had no excuses and congratulated the challenger for the win, even noting that he was proud to be in the same ring with an Olympian. If he decides to exercise the option for a rematch, Ancajas said he’ll be better prepared to win back the crown.
After the fight, Ancajas was brought to a medical trauma center for a routine examination. MP Promotions head Sean Gibbons said there was no reason to worry but for safety reasons, it was prudent to do a CT-Scan and other tests. “Jerwin wasn’t overly exhausted,” said Gibbons. “He didn’t complain of dizziness. He was bruised up. We wanted to just make sure he was OK before going back to his hotel room. He took a lot of head shots so better to be safe. Jerwin wasn’t himself in the fight, making weight drained him and had no pop in his punches. Great champions sometimes lose but what defines them is how they come back.”
The night before, WBO No. 6 bantamweight Vincent Astrolabio of General Santos City scored an upset unanimous 10-round decision over two-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux of Cuba to claim the vacant WBC International 118-pound title in Dubai. Astrolabio floored Rigondeaux with a left-right combination in the eighth round and the knockdown proved to be the margin of victory as judges Gary Kitanoski of the UK, Bela Florian of Hungary and Rey Danseco of the Philippines scored it 95-94. In the undercard, Cuban Jadier Herrera survived a knockdown to outpoint Filipino Mark John Yap in a 10-round superfeatherweight bout on scores of 97-92, 98-91 and 99-91.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Joaquin Henson.
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