An all-Filipino world title showdown looms on the horizon after champion Jerwin Ancajas scored a savage sixth-round stoppage of Jamie Conlan over the weekend in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Moments after Ancajas retained the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight crown for the third time at the SSE Arena, the name of Jonas Sultan of the ALA Boxing Club of Cebu cropped up.
Sultan earned the status as Ancajas’ mandatory challenger after his upset win over another Filipino, former world champion Johnreil Casimero, a few months ago.
It is likely that Ancajas’ team will try to promote the Sultan fight as he is promoted by Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions. Sultan, whose ALA stable is backed by ABS-CBN, might also raise the idea of staging the fight.
Meanwhile, Conlan was a picture of despair following the loss to Ancajas that saw him get knocked down four times.
“I’m more emotionally hurt than anything,” Conlan told the Irish Sun. “He’s an elite-level fighter.”
The first-round knockdown by Ancajas was the decider.
“He got me with a great body shot in the first round and it was just very hard to recover after that,” said Conlan, who suffered his first loss in 20 fights.
“I lost to a better man and he’s a fantastic champion,” added Conlan.
