WORLD champion Jerwin Ancajas officially began training in preparation for his coming defense of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight title.
The 29-year-old Panabo, Davao Del Norte native was at the Wild Card gym over the weekend where he was welcomed by its Hall of Famer owner Freddie Roach.
Ancajas along with trainer Joven Jimenez have been in the U.S. for five months now, but didn’t get into formal training until his title fight against Jonathan Rodriguez of Mexico was finalized.
The twice postponed bout – which was in the making as early as November of 2019 – is calendared for either an April 17 or April 24 date at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. A formal announcement will be made in the coming days.
Ancajas was joined in the training by Olympic-bound pro fighter Eumir Marcial and his sparmate Jonas Sultan.
After the fight was called off two years ago following Rodriguez’s failure to get a US visa, the match was moved to an April date last year. Unfortunately, the outbreak of COVID-19 worldwide pushed the bout in the backburner anew.
Ancajas (32-1, 22 KOs) has not fought since December of 2019 when he scored a sixth-round TKO of Miguel Gonzalez in Puebla, Mexico.
The 25-year-old Gonzalez (22-1, 16 KOs) managed to fight prior to the pandemic, scoring a knockout win over Julian Yedras in February last year.
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