Ancajas spars at Wild Card gym for April fight in LA

Jerwin Ancajas is satisfied with the sparring sessions he had with former challenger Jonas Sultan since they arrived in the United States last September.

For the sake of variety, however, Ancajas, the International Boxing Federation super flyweight champion, has been training at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood to find capable 115-pounders to trade punches with.

Ancajas is expected to make the ninth defense of the 115-pound title against Mexican Jonathan Rodriguez.

There’s no definite date yet, but chief trainer Joven Jimenez believes the 12-rounder will be held by the third week of April, probably at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles.

“Jerwin is in good condition already,” said Jimenez. “His weight (131) is right where we wanted him to be by this time.”

Jimenez and Ancajas actually started their preparations in January 2020 in Dipolog City, but their schedule went haywire following the lockdown spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

After holing out at their Survival Camp in Magallanes, Cavite, they finally got the clearance to fly out in September, but Ancajas was unable to secure a fight because Top Rank Promotions’ calendar has been filled up by then.

Regardless, Ancajas is now in tip-top shape, according to Jimenez.

Ancajas lives in a big house, complete with a makeshift ring, at Bellevue Avenue in Los Angeles together with Jimenez, Tokyo Olympics-bound Eumir Marcial, former world title contender Sultan, MP (Manny Pacquiao) Promotions president Sean Gibbons, and his son Brendan.

Following the blueprint of Pacquiao’s training, members of Team Ancajas occasionally run at Griffith Park although they never tried to reach the highest point.

Jimenez said Ancajas is nearing the peak of training.

While they spent most of their training at the front yard, moving to the garage when it’s cold or raining, Jimenez lets Ancajas, Marcial and Sultan run in other places like the beach to prevent monotony.

The same goes for the sparring sessions. Another partner in another ring would certainly benefit Ancajas. – Rappler.com