Jerwin Ancajas dismantles Jamie Conlan, retains title by sixth round TKO

NEW YORK, USA – Jerwin Ancajas was at his most destructive in his third title defense, dropping Jamie Conlan in the first, third and sixth rounds to retain the IBF junior bantamweight championship on Saturday, November 18 at the SSE Arena in Conlan’s hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

There was also what appeared to be a clean knockdown on a straight left to the body in the fifth round which British referee Steve Gray ruled a low blow and deducted a point from Ancajas, but the penalty proved moot when a right hook to the head sent Conlan down, at which point Gray decided he’d seen enough.

Ancajas (28-1-1, 19 knockouts), a native of Panabo City, Davao del Norte, Philippines now residing in Kawit, Cavite, scored the first knockdown two minutes into the fight under bizarre circumstances, when Conlan took a knee after a hard-to-see right hook under his elbow caused him to go down on a delayed basis.

The fight didn’t get any easier from that point as Conlan (19-1, 11 KOs) was cut by an accidental headbutt – not a rare occurrence for him – in the second round.

The second knockdown came from a body shot once more as Conlan doubled over in pain from a straight left before another shot put him down. But Conlan rose up, as he had done at least 5 previous times before Saturday, and was met with a barrage of two fisted body blows which had Conlan exhaling deeply when the bell sounded.

Jerwin Ancajas TKOs Jamie Conlan in the sixth round to retain the IBF junior bantamweight title in Belfast, Ireland #boxing pic.twitter.com/1teJ93zUkc

— Ryan Songalia (@ryansongalia) November 18, 2017

The low blow ruling in the fifth was proceeded by a right hook to the body near the bell which nearly caused Conlan to take another knee.

“We were very afraid,” Ancajas’ trainer/manager Joven Jimenez tells Rappler of the point deduction. “I gave the instruction: no more body punches.”

MP Promotions matchmaker Sean Gibbons had said prior to the fight that Ancajas, 25, will be invading the United States for his next fight. Manager/trainer Joven Jimenez says he expects Ancajas’ next fight to be in February, and is hoping for a unification bout with WBO 115-pound champion Naoya Inoue.

Ancajas, who made a career-high $80,000 USD for this fight, is one of 3 current world champions from the Philippines, with the other two being IBF flyweight titleholder Donnie Nietes and IBF junior flyweight titleholder Milan Melindo. – Rappler.com