By NICK GINGCO
MANHATTAN BEACH, California – Halloween dealt Filipino world champion Jerwin Ancajas a dirty trick on Thursday when his eighth title defense of the International Boxing Federation super-flyweight title was scrapped at the last minute.
Ancajas was supposed to risk the IBF 115-pound crown against Jonathan Rodriguez of Mexico on Saturday at the Dignity Sports Health Park but Top Rank decided not to proceed with the fight owing to visa issues on Rodriguez’s part.
Getting a substitute was not considered given that it was a world title fight, prompting the Las Vegas-based outfit to look into rescheduling Ancajas defense possibly against another foe on Dec. 7 in Puebla, Mexico.
The cancellation came just two days before the fight and the news left the entire Ancajas team in shock.
The bad news was delivered to Ancajas just minutes after the Filipino southpaw had checked on his weight after his afternoon workout.
The official weigh-in is scheduled Friday afternoon and Ancajas had made weight when he stepped on the scales barely 24 hours earlier.
“I had made the weight but coach Joven Jimenez told me about the bad news,” said Ancajas, who was visibly disappointed but later realized that he had to move on.
Despite the sad news, Ancajas is looking forward to the planned December defense that he might not even head back to the Philippines and instead resume his training either in Los Angeles or Las Vegas, where his US representative Sean Gibbons has a home.
“Jerwin will go to either Los Angeles or Las Vegas for his training and I am distraught that this has happened,” said Gibbons, who was booked to fly here from Manila in time for Friday’s weigh-in.
Ancajas was amenable to the setup of staying behind, adding doing so would not disrupt his buildup for the December fight.
“If I go back, I will have to adjust to the weather again,” said Ancajas.
