ONE of the fighters who prepared Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in his recent world title fight against Juan Estrada will be doing the same for reigning champion Jerwin Ancajas.
Christian Robles along with Scrappy Ramirez are to be brought over at the Wild Card gym and serve as additional sparring partners for the 29-year-old Ancajas while training for his April 10 title defense against Mexican challenger Jonathan Rodriguez.
Robles, 24, is an American of Mexican descent who served as sparmate of Gonzalez for his unification bout against Estrada on Sunday. Estrada won the action-packed, Fight of the Year candidate at the American Airlines Center in Dallas by a close split decision to unify the World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) super-flyweight crowns.
Former opponent and fellow Filipino Jonas Sultan has been busy keeping the reigning International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight title holder in condition as early as October last year when the Filipino began his training camp in Los Angeles together with trainer Joven Jimenez.
“Bascially, both (Ramirez and Robles) will fight in a very aggressive style,” said MP (Manny Pacquiao) Promotions President Sean Gibbons, a veteran matchmaker himself.
“Jonathan Rodriguez is your traditional Mexican kid, in great shape, and he’ll try to walk you down. That’s exactly what these guys will be trying to emulate.”
Gibbons said that has been the same style Sultan brought to the table right from Day One of his sparring with Ancajas.
“These guys need to put a lot of pressure on Jerwin because that’s how Jonathan is going to fight,” Gibbons stressed. “Jonathan is not Sugar Ray Leonard. He’s going to come and fight. He’s hungry.”
The Ancajas-Rodriguez match serves as undercard of Jaron Ennis-Sergey Lipinets welterweight bout.
Also part of the undercard is another Filipino in Mark Magsayo, who will face Pablo Cruz in a featherweight fight.