JERWIN Ancajas settled for a draw against a scrappy Alejandro Santiago of Mexico to retain his International Boxing Federation super-flyweight title on Saturday in Oakland, California.
The Filipino champion found the shorter but aggressive 22-year-old Mexican a tough nut to crack for the entire 12-round bout at the Oracle Arena in perhaps his toughest challenge yet since winning the crown two years ago.
Ancajas, who wore Stephen Curry’s iconic no. 30 Golden State Warriors’ jersey before and after the match, escaped past Santiago on scores of 116-112, 118-111, and 114-114, eliciting a mixed reaction from both Filipino and Mexican fight fans in the gallery.
It was the sixth title defense for the 26-year-old native of Panabo, Davao del Norte, who improved to 31-1-1, with 20 KOs.
More importantly, it further lined him up for a possible unification title match against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai of Thailand, the reigning World Boxing Council champion, who is regarded as one of the top fighter pound-for-pound in the world.
Santiago’s record now stands at 16-3-4 (7 KOs), but obviously gave the champion everything he could handle in his very first fight in the US.
Ancajas acknowledged it was a tough fight against Santiago, but believes he won it fair and square.
“It was a good, entertaining fight. My timing was a little off. He was a little awkward,” said the champion, who holds a four-inch height advantage against the challenger.
“I felt like I pressed the fight and did enough to win.”
Santiago, from Tijuana, Baja California, insisted he was the better fighter tonight.
“Everyone saw the fight, and everyone saw that I won the fight clearly,” said the Mexican.
CompuBox punch statistics showed Ancajas was slightly ahead in all departments, landing a total of 127 punches out of 589 (22 percent) to Santiago’s 108 of 519 (21 percent).
The Filipinos also landed more jabs (27 of 278) to the Mexican (10 of 182), and in power punches (100 of 311) compared to Santiago (98 of 337).
Meanwhile, Genesis Servania stopped Carlos Carlson of Mexico in the third round of their featherweight match in the undercard of the Ancajas-Santiago title bout.
The 27-year-old native of Bacolod put down Carlson with a counter right at 44 seconds of the third round for the full count from referee Marcos Rosales.
Servania is now 32-1 (15 KOs) as he won for the third straight time since losing by decision to Oscar Valdez for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight crown last year.
Carlson’s record fell to 23-5 (14 KOs).
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