Jerwin Ancajas cheers for Cavaliers

LOS ANGELES – The day after retaining the IBF superflyweight crown via a unanimous 12-round decision over Jonas Sultan, the fighter destined to be the next Manny Pacquiao sat in his Sheraton Gateway hotel room watching Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics.

Jerwin Ancajas, trainer Joven Jimenez, stablemate Mark Anthony Barriga and assistant trainers Bobby Jalnaiz and Delfin Boholst whooped it up at the final buzzer as the Cavs took down the Celtics, 87-79, on the road to advance to the Last Dance. There were high fives all around. Ancajas said experience did the trick with the young Celtics crumbling under the pressure of a do-or-die contest. That same factor – experience – was critical in deciding the outcome of Ancajas’ fight against Sultan.

Ancajas said he’s a fan of both teams. His two sons Kyrie and Kyle were named after Kyrie Irving of the Celtics and Kyle Korver of the Cavs. But since the injured Irving is out of the playoffs, he went for the Cavs. “Either way, I couldn’t lose,” he said in Pilipino. “I also wanted Cleveland to win because if Boston made it to the Finals, they wouldn’t be competitive against either Golden State or Houston because of their inexperience. LeBron (James) is the best player in the world. It’s almost like he’s not human.”

Ancajas’ wife Ruth is five months pregnant and expecting a baby girl. Ancajas said his wife will name the baby since he had two turns with the boys. He said the first thing he did after beating Sultan was to call his wife and kids. “They didn’t ask me to buy anything from the US,” he said. “My boys only wanted to find out when I was coming home and Ruth told me congratulations. They watched the fight on TV at the Survival Camp with our friends and neighbors.”

In Ancajas’ team, Jalnaiz and Boholst are rich with amateur history. Jalnaiz, 51, took the gold medal as a bantamweight at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing and represented the country twice in the Olympics. At the 1992 Barcelona Games, Jalnaiz reached the quarterfinals where he was stopped by Cuba’s Joel Casamayor, falling short of a bronze medal finish by a win. Boholst, 35, fought in the Asian Games twice and retired from the ring to become a full-time solider with the Philippine Army until his retirement as a First Lieutenant.

Jalnaiz is based in Los Angeles while Boholst stays at the Survival Camp in Magallanes, Cavite and goes home to McKinley Hill to be with his wife Janice and their one-year-old daughter Martina on weekends. Jalnaiz migrated to the US in 2012 with his wife Mary Joy and their three children Asian Marie, Roberto Miguel and Rafael.

Not too many know that Jalnaiz turned pro for just one fight at the Plachy Hall, Alamosa, Colorado in 2001. “Our flight was diverted to Vancouver on the way to the US because we flew on Sept. 11, 2001,” he said. “I traveled with 12 companions, including world-rated pros Jess Maca and Joseph Paden. We went to Denver and I decided to join an amateur derby where the prize money was $1,500. You had to win three bouts in one day for first place. Each bout was for three rounds at one minute each round. I lost my first fight to a guy bigger than me by split decision. It was like David against Goliath. Then, I was offered to fight Anthony Mora. It was my first pro fight. I wanted to turn pro after I won the Asian Games gold in 1990 but ABAP wanted me to try for one more Olympics.”

Jalnaiz said he was in poor condition to face Mora in a four-rounder but the purse of $1,000 was enticing. “I injured my right knee playing basketball in Baguio,” he said. “In the first round, I put my head down while trying to weave and got caught with a left uppercut. My bad knee gave way and I went down.  The referee (Curtis Thrasher) stopped it after I got up at five. I told myself it was time to go home.” His stay in the US stretched to only a month.

Jalnaiz recommended Boholst to Jimenez to join Ancajas’ team. Boholst won a gold medal at the Philippine National Games and earned a spot on the ABAP national squad. He started boxing as a college freshman but didn’t let fighting get in the way of earning an economics degree at the State University in Bukidnon. Boholst’s father-in-law is retired Gen. Jose Gamos. His wife is an investment banker with First Metro.

Boholst is staying here until he finishes a one-week strength and conditioning course at Fullerton State on June 9. At the Survival Camp, Boholst holds up the mitts for Ancajas and Barriga and joins the fighters in runs up and down hilly terrain. Now, he wants to get to the next level and the course, which has a price of $600, is a perfect platform to enrich his knowledge in the science of sports training. The classes are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for five days. Asked to describe Ancajas’ demeanor in training camp, Boholst replied with only one word – intense.