By NICK GIONGCO
Instead of retreating to his cozy hotel room after a 13-hour trip from Manila, world champion Jerwin Ancajas got dressed for training late Tuesday (early Wednesday in Manila) in Los Angeles.
Ten days before meeting mandatory challenger Jonas Sultan at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, Ancajas pounded the pads held by lead trainer Joven Jimenez as his entire training team joined in helping the Filipino southpaw shake off jet lag.
Ancajas is billeted at the Homewood Suites by Hilton in Redondo Beach and is due to drive to Fresno on Monday.
There will be no more hard training for Ancajas, who did his last sparring session last Monday just before his team flew to the US.
“We’ll do light training in LA. The hard training phase is over,” he said.
The defense against Sultan will be Ancajas’ fifth after defending thrice in 2017. Last February in Texas, Ancajas stopped Israel Gonzalez of Mexico.
Ancajas is heavily favored to repulse Sultan in their first all-Filipino world title fight in almost a century.
The last time two Filipinos faced off in a world title fight was in 1925 when fly titlist Pancho Villa beat Clever Sencio at Wallace Field (now Luneta).
