Ancajas stops Japanese, keeps IBF jr bantam title

BRISBANE, Australia – Jerwin Ancajas made his way to the ring the way Manny Pacquiao normally does – smiling, bouncing on his feet and waving to the crowd.

The 25-year-old from Panabo City in Davao del Norte left the ring wearing an even bigger smile after keeping his IBF junior-bantamweight title at the Suncorp Stadium.

Ancajas controlled the fight against Japanese Teiru Kinoshita then knocked his challenger down with a crunching right to the left side of the body.

Kinoshita managed to beat the count and as he stood against the ropes, the referee signaled the end of the bout, eliciting cheers from the large Filipino crowd.

The end came at the 1:53 mark of the seventh round of their scheduled 12-rounder.

Ancajas, who wore gloves with the Philippine colors, got out of the tunnel from his dressing room and into the packed arena to the music of ACDC’s “Highway to Hell.”

The Pinoy crowd cheered loudly as he walked to the ring, set up in the middle of the field.

Ancajas, who defended his crown for the second time, looked tentative at the start, and may have allowed the Japanese to win the first round.

But in the second round, he started landing some very good shots, digging to the body and connecting with his right hand.

Ancajas received $60,000 for the fight, and with the victory, can now look forward to the bigger fights at the crowded 115-lb class, and a bigger purse.

By the second round, Kinoshita was bleeding from the corner of his right eye, and Ancajas found a fresh target to hit, and was quite successful.

Ancajas landed a four-punch combination to highlight the third round, and then a flurry to the body to cap the fourth.

Kinoshita, cheered on by a small group of Japanese waving their nation’s flag, tried to turn things around in the sixth round but as he pressed his attack in the seventh, he got caught to the body.

The referee took a hard look at the Japanese after he got up from the knockdown and decided that the latter was unfit to continue.

There was no protest from the Japanese camp.

Ancajas was a very happy man after the victory, and in his red Team Ancajas jacket stepped out of the ring and walked back inside the tunnel.

His smile told it all.