Not even the Christmas revelry could force world super-flyweight king Jerwin Ancajas from showing up at the gym.
Ancajas, who defends the International Boxing Federation 115-lb crown against Israel Gonzalez of Mexico on Feb. 3 in the US, trained intensely on a day people were in a relaxed mode.
“We can’t afford to waste one day,” said the southpaw Ancajas, who has set up training camp in Magallanes, Cavite.
Besides, Ancajas should already be in Los Angeles at around this time next month to prepare for the trip to Corpus Christi, Texas, site of his fourth defense of the throne he won last year.
“Non-stop training,” Ancajas’s chief trainer Joven Jimenez acknowledged.
Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. has just inked Ancajas to a lucrative one-year three-fight contract with the provision that the deal will be extended if he continues to make heads turn.
This early, the 86-year-old Hall of Fame promoter is raving about Ancajas, who he plans to groom into Philippine boxing’s newest star with Manny Pacquiao about to ride into the sunset.
In fact, Arum believes that Pacquiao and Ancajas have lots in common aside from the two being lefties.
The American Bank Center, which can accommodate 10,000, will play host to the fight that will be telecast on ESPN.
This will be Ancajas’s debut on American soil, something the heavy-handed fighter had been dreaming about in years.