Ancajas vs Sultan title fight postponed

MANILA, Philippines – The historic all-Filipino world title showdown between IBF super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas and mandatory challenger Jonas Sultan will have to wait a bit longer.

This, according to ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael, comes after the postponement of the fight between Terence Crawford and Jeff Horn, whose undercard was supposed to include Ancajas-Sultan.

Ancajas was originally set to defend his title against Sultan in the undercard of Crawford-Horn at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on April 14. But Crawford reportedly injured his right hand in sparring, forcing Top Rank Inc. to reschedule the entire fight card.

According to Rafael, Top Rank boss Bob Arum said the Ancajas-Sultan fight “would either move to the May 12 Jorge Linares-Vasiliy Lomachenko card at Madison Square Garden in New York or go on the new date for Horn-Crawford.”

Meanwhile, ALA Promotions chief Michael Aldeguer, who promotes Sultan, confirmed the fight’s postponement.

“We got a message early this morning. It (Ancajas-Sultan fight) will be moved either May 12, late May or June 2. We should know the new date in the next few days,” Aldeguer told Philboxing.com

Ancajas putting his title on the line against Sultan will mark the first time two Filipinos will clash for a world title in almost a century.

The last such instance was on May 2, 1925, when boxing great Francisco Guilledo, popularly known as “Pancho Villa,” defended his flyweight crown against Clever Sencio in Manila.

The 26-year-old Ancajas (29-1-1, with 20 KOs) seeks to further build on the momentum of his rousing US debut just last month when he knocked out Israel Vazquez in his fourth title defense. It was the first of the Cavite City-based boxer’s three-fight deal with Top Rank.

For his part, Sultan (14-3, with 9 KOs) earned the right to challenge Ancajas after outpointing fellow Filipino and former IBF flyweight titlist John Riel Casimero last year.