Two more Jerwin Ancajas fights this year

IBF superflyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas may stake his crown twice more this year with both optional defenses expected to take place in US cities where there is a high concentration of Filipino residents.

Ancajas’ trainer Joven Jimenez said yesterday Las Vegas-based international matchmaker Sean Gibbons will arrive on June 19 with news of the fight schedule. Gibbons attended the IBF convention in St. Vincent, Italy, last May 28-June 1 and will bring the IBF championship ring that was awarded to Ancajas in absentia.

Ancajas and Jimenez were supposed to attend the IBF convention but failed to obtain their Schengen visas on time. Ancajas, Anthony Joshua, Gennady Golovkin, Jennifer Han, Lee Selby and Maiva Hamadouche were given rings by the IBF for booking at least three successful title defenses during the convention. Since wresting the IBF 115-pound crown from Puerto Rico’s McJoe Arroyo in 2016, Ancajas has repulsed five straight challengers, including three last year.

Gibbons received the bejewelled ring for Ancajas. He couldn’t put a dollar value to the ring but said it looks expensive with diamonds and rubies.

Jimenez said Ancajas’ next fight will be set two weeks after stablemate Mark Anthony Barriga’s crack at the IBF minimumweight title, likely in September. He said Daly City in south San Francisco may host Ancajas’ sixth defense. Daly City has the largest percentage of Filipino-Americans in a US municipality, approximately 33 percent of a population of about 110,000. No opponent has been named but Ancajas’ team will choose from among the top 10 contenders.

Gibbons said he has offered IBF minimumweight champion Hiroto Kyoguchi a $50,000 purse to defend his title against Barriga in Manila. The offer was made through Japanese matchmaker Joe Koizumi who will take up the matter with Kyoguchi’s promoter Hitoshi Watanabe. Barriga earned the right to fight Kyoguchi as the mandatory challenger after outpointing Colombia’s Gabriel Mendoza in an eliminator at the SM City North EDSA Skydome last May.

Gibbons said nothing is sure about Barriga’s title shot. It appears that Kyoguchi is avoiding Barriga and looking to either unify the 105-pound title by facing WBC champion Wanheng Menayothin of Thailand or move up to the lightflyweight division to meet IBF/WBA titleholder Hekkie Budler of South Africa. Wanheng isn’t likely to agree to fight in Japan so Kyoguchi might face Budler instead. In that case, Barriga will be matched against the highest available contender to vie for the vacant throne.

Ancajas hosted a victory party for family, friends and neighbors at the Survival Camp in Magallanes, Cavite, the other day. Over 100 guests came for dinner of lechon and kaldereta. Among the visitors were former Kawit Vice Mayor Orange Aguinaldo, Department of National Defense consultant Mike Salvador, lawyer Epi Almeda, Tim Barrinuevo and a couple that took care of Ancajas when he lived in Taytay as a struggling fighter before becoming the IBF champion. According to Barrinuevo, President Duterte’s son Sebastian will meet Ancajas in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, today.