MANILA, Philippines — IBF superflyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas is in the final stage of training for his eighth title defense against Mexico’s Jonathan Javier Rodriguez and will spar three rounds with Filipino tough guy Jobert Alvarez in Los Angeles tomorrow before tapering off to stay fresh for the scheduled 12-round bout at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson City on Nov. 2.
Ancajas arrived in L. A. from Manila last Friday and sparred four rounds with Alvarez in Marvin Somodio’s Combinations Boxing Academy gym yesterday. Ancajas’ chief trainer and manager Joven Jimenez said tomorrow’s session will conclude the sparring regimen. “Kami-kami na lang ni Jerwin mag-partner play pagtapos ng last sparring,” said Jimenez.
Alvarez, 29, has a 19-2-2 record, with 7 KOs and has won fights in Mexico and Puerto Rico. One of his losses was a decision to Mexico’s Juan Francisco Estrada in 2014. Estrada now holds the WBC superflyweight crown and Ancajas hopes to lure him into a unification showdown early next year.
Alvarez is a southpaw but in sparring with Ancajas, Jimenez asked him to fight right-handed like Rodriguez. “Gagayahin niya ang style ni Rodriguez,” said Jimenez. Alvarez is based in Seattle and returned to Manila last week to renew his US visa. Alvarez and his coach Dondon Llagas then took the same flight as Ancajas in flying to L. A.
Jimenez said Ancajas scaled 125 pounds upon landing in L. A. so he’s within striking distance of the 115-pound limit. “Mabuti ang lagay ni Jerwin,” said Jimenez. “Nakapahinga siya sa flight. Ang kondisyon niya katulad ng kay (Ryuichi) Funai.” Last May, Ancajas tipped the scales at 114 1/4 and battered Funai into submission at the end of the sixth round in Stockton. It was Ancajas’ first fight with nutritionist Jeaneth Aro supervising his diet which was so precise that the night before the weigh-in, he ate a full meal when in the past, he starved himself. Aro is now with Ancajas in L. A.
Jimenez said before Ancajas flew out of Manila, he arranged for his wife Ruth and their three children to be at the airport. Ancajas had visited his family in Magallanes, Cavite, only once in the last three months while he was in training camp at the Naval Education Training and Doctrine Command base in San Antonio, Zambales. The fighters, trainers and sparmates from the Survival Camp in Magallanes and the base in San Antonio were also in the airport to wish Ancajas luck. The well-wishers came in two vans.
Jimenez said Ancajas is in high spirits. He’s eating three square meals a day, not cutting down on food and staying on weight. Ancajas knows he has to be in tip-top shape to topple Rodriguez, a mean fighting machine whose last victim Felipe Orucuta, a two-time world title challenger, lost consciousness, was administered CPR to revive his heartbeat and left the ring on a stretcher after a defeat by a 10th round stoppage in Mexico last June.
Ancajas, 27, has fought exclusively overseas since wresting the IBF crown from McJoe Arroyo in Taguig in 2016. He turned back challengers in Macau, Brisbane, Belfast, Corpus Christi, Fresno, Oakland and Stockton so fighting on foreign soil is not an issue. Last year, Ancajas fought thrice and this year, Rodriguez will be his second opponent. Rodriguez, 24, has fought twice this year so far and totes a 21-1 record, with 15 KOs compared to Ancajas’ 31-1-2, with 21 KOs.