By Nick Giongco
It seems that the camp of International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas should put out a ‘Now Hiring’ sign outside the Survival Camp gate in Magallanes, Cavite.
Several key personnel, according to Joven Jimenez, chief trainer and manager of Ancajas, have decided to leave to seek greener pastures.
Or so it seems.
Those who have opted out, according to Jimenez, includes fighters and many-time national team standouts Mark Anthony Barriga, Charly Suarez and Delfin Boholst, US-based Roberto Jalnaiz, also a former key member of the national team back in the 1990s.
Even in-house trainer Sonny Dollente, a former topnotch amateur, has also left, alongside several boxers, leaving Jimenez with a rag-tag crew made up of cooks and dishwashers.
Sean Gibbons, who represents Ancajas and was likewise instrumental in giving Barriga a world title shot in Los Angeles last December, has given Jimenez specific instructions to conduct a house cleaning at Survival Camp.
“He had some real back-stabbers there,” Gibbons said on Wednesday from Los Angeles.
While Ancajas has no specific date for his next fight yet, the 27-year-old southpaw is already on training mode.
“We are looking at March,” said Jimenez.
Although keeping Ancajas in shape is tops in his priority, Jimenez can’t help but wonder over the sudden exodus of key men, many of them playing important roles in Ancajas’ rise as the country’s next ring star.
Boholst served as Ancajas’ conditioning coach for three fights last year all in the US while Jalnaiz was also tapped to help out.
Suarez, who has decided to turn professional, trained with Barriga last November at Survival Camp, and was being poised to turn pro under Jimenez’ supervision, suddenly packed his bags and left to join the breakaway group.
In the meantime, Jimenez is about to start to conduct a shakeup of the entire camp.
If it doesn’t work, there is another alternative: exorcism.
