By NICK GIONGCO
LOS ANGELES – Down south the 110 Freeway in Redondo Beach on Thursday, Jerwin Ancajas shows up for another round of evening workout at his hotel’s fitness center.
Ancajas had already trained in the morning but nonetheless laced up once again, a decision that is fueled by one thing: motivation.
“I get pumped up by what he has been saying (in interviews),” Ancajas told a small group of scribes who wore bloodshot eyes during the short Q&A.
‘He’ refers to Jonas Sultan, whom Ancajas will meet on May 26 in a mandatory defense of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight crown at the Save Mart Center in Fresno.
Already in town almost the last two weeks, Sultan has started to get into the buzz of life here that the top IBF 115-lb contender is beginning to entertain illusions of grandeur.
“I can see that his confidence level is going up,” said Ancajas after consuming a small cup of steamed brown rice and a mixture of saucy meat and vegetable viand.
“What Sultan has been saying is the thing that motivates me to train harder and focus on the fight,” said Ancajas, who will be defending for the fifth time.
Still, Ancajas likes what he’s seeing from Sultan and if indeed the Cebu-based puncher lives up to his word, their clash next week, the first all-Filipino world title fight in almost 100 years, is bound to
become a classic.
“That’ll be good because that means our fight will be entertaining and good for boxing,” added Ancajas, who wound up training for almost 90 minutes under the watchful eyes of lead trainer Joven Jimenez, 1992 Barcelona Olympian Robert Jalnaiz and conditioning coach and cook Delfin Boholst.
