By REYNALD MAGALLON
Jerwin Ancajas gets a shot at winning a world title in a heavier weight class after arranging a WBA bantamweight showdown against Japanese champion Takuma Inoue on Nov. 15 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.
Top Rank made the announcement on Wednesday, Oct. 11 as Ancajas, aside from taking on a formidable foe, also expected to deal with a hostile crowd.
Inoue, for one, is the brother of current WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue and one of the country’s well-loved sporting heroes.
Ancajas, though, is certainly not lacking any motivation especially that it’s already been a year since the last time he held a belt.
Boasting of a 34-3-2 with 23 KOs, the 31-year-old pugilist reigned as IBF super-flyweight champion for six years, winning in all of his 9 title defenses in that span.
He then moved up to the bantamweight division after twin losses to Fernando Martinez. Ancajas made a successful debut in the new weight class, beating Wilner Soto last June.
Inoue, on the other hand, only lost once in 19 bouts and has won his last five fights, including a unanimous decision win over Liborio Solis to capture the bantamweight crown.
Also set to see action in the undercard is former world title challenger Jonas Sultan who will be taking on another Japanese fighter Rico Masuda in an eight-rounder fight.
Sultan, who sports a 19-6, 11 KOs record, is coming off a unanimous decision win over Frank Gonzales just last September.
Masuda, on the other hand, is looking to bounce back from absorbing his first loss in four bouts against Seiya Tsutsumi.
