MANILA – Jerwin Ancajas fell short of reclaiming the IBF World super flyweight title after a unanimous decision defeat to Argentinian Fernando Daniel Martinez on Saturday night (Sunday in the Philippines) at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
The Panabo City, Davao del Norte native was outclassed and dominated by the defending champion Martinez that the latter got lopsided 119-109, 118-110, 118-110 scores from the judges.
Martinez imposed his presence almost the entire 12-round contest with his swarming attack on Ancajas coupled by volume punches and straights that prevented the Filipino from launching his punches.
Ancajas, however, also had his moments in the world title clash with his uppercut and shots to the body. His attacks, however, were limited and mostly not enough to hurt Martinez.
This was the second time that Ancajas and Martinez have face each other following their first encounter last January where the Argentinean scored a unanimous decision triumph in Las Vegas, Nevada.
With the loss, the 30-year-old Ancajas saw his record dropped to 33-3-2 win-loss-draw, including 22 stoppage victories, while the 30-year-old Martinez stayed undefeated with 15-0-0 slate, with eight wins via stoppages.
In the undercard bout, Filipino boxer Eumir Marcial notched his third professional boxing victory after a dominant unanimous decision win over American fighter Steven Pichardo.
It was a testy bout for both fighters with Marcial even suffering a cut above his right eye but the Pinoy fighter did just enough to score a massive unanimous decision verdict against a much-experienced foe.
Marcial, a bronze medal winner in Tokyo Olympics, improved his untarnished record to 3-0-0, including one stoppage win, after the win while Pichardo dropped his boxing slate to 8-3-1 win-loss-draw with two KO victories.
Following this match, the Zamboanga City-native Marcial will return to the national men’s boxing team in preparation for a tournament later this year in Jordan./PN
