MANILA â Jerwin Ancajas retained his International Boxing Federation (IBF) super flyweight title with a unanimous-decision win over Jonas Sultan on Sunday at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.
Raking in 119-109, 119-109, 117-111 from the judges, Ancajas successfully defended in clinical fashion for the fourth time the belt he won against the Puerto Rican veteran McJoe Arroyo in September 2016.
Ancajas was aggressive in the first two rounds, with his fine jabs and 1-2 combinations against Sultan. The latter had his best round in the third when he rocked Ancajas with a loaded right to the face.
Ancajas regained his footing in the next round onward as he unloaded calculated punches on Sultan. The latter tried to answer by going for Ancajasâ body but fell short in hurting the defending champion.
Sultan became the aggressor in the seventh to the ninth rounds as he unloaded numerous left and right combinations on Ancajas. Both had accidental head-butts in the ninth but not much damage was made.
Ancajas regained his form in the 10th as he punished Sultan with attacks to the body and head. Sultan had his last push in the 12th but his wayward hits failed to hurt Ancajas.
In the undercard, John Vincent Moralde of the Philippines scored two knockdowns on Ismail Muwendo as he surged to a unanimous-decision victory.
âAs expected, Jonas was a tough boxer to beat,â Ancajas said. âHe had been hanging around the entire fight. I am just thankful to be part of history and that we both ended up without a serious gash.â
This victory allowed the 29-year-old Ancajas to improve to a 30-1-1 win-loss-draw record including 20 knockout wins while the slate of Sultan, 26, dropped to 14-4-0 with nine wins via stoppage.
The Ancajas-Sultan encounter was the first all-Filipino world title clash since Pancho Villa defeated compatriot Clever Sencio via unanimous decision to retain his world flyweight title in 1925./PN
