IT WOULD not be fair to call Jerwin Ancajas just another Filipino world champ, although he did join a gang of reigning Pinoy world titleholders with a sensational triumph before his countrymen in Taguig on Saturday.
One more sparkling Pinoy world champ from nowhere sounds more like it.
Ancajas, 24, the new IBF world super flyweight champion, was not too known in his home province, Davao. He was also relatively obscure all over the country.
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His title challenge against the unbeaten McJoe Arroyo of Puerto Rico (17-0) drew only scant notice in local and national media. His big win was a barely visible ear item in this section yesterday.
Ancajas, son of a banana plantation worker, got only $3,750 (15 percent of the total $25,000 purse) for the successful mandatory challenge. But knowing the full significance of his victory, he wasted no time and announced he was dedicating his triumph, hard-fought and hard-earned, to his native Davao, which on Friday, eve of his world title shot, was shattered by a nightmarish bomb blast that killed 14 people and wounded more than 68 others in a busy downtown night market.
“Despite what happened last night, I hope I could inspire a bit of happiness with this win,” Ancajas told Rappler.
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“Ancajas gave a career-best performance infront of a very animated home crowd and seized the world crown after 12 tension-filled rounds,” wrote the respected boxing expert and international ring physician Dr. Rene Bonsubre.
Nick Giongco: “With his right hand turning out to be more than just a lead punch, everything went right for southpaw Jerwin Ancajas in his first world title attempt … He pummeled Arroyo with effective right jabs, sneaky right hooks and vicious combos to the body.”
Rene Bonsubre: “The early rounds were a chess match. Ancajas dominated the second half when he hurt Arroyo in the sixth with a hard left. Ancajas blasted Arroyo through the ropes with a volley a couple of rounds later.”
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By the way, Ancajas should also be listed as the second straight Filipino boxer this year to capture a world crown coming in from nowhere. A huge underdog, Ancajas’ title win was a resounding follow up to the world junior bantamweight championship win by the unheralded Marlon Tapales, who last July traveled unnoticed to Thailand where be stopped the feared Thai Pungluang Sor Singyu, conqueror of a parade of Filipino boxers.
Ancajas’ victory actually made it a total of five Filipino world champions, although Donnie Nietes is officially without a crown after he relinquished his WBO light flyweight crown to move up and campaign in the flyweight division. (The other two reigning Filipino world champions are WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire Jr. and IBF flyweight champion Johnriel Casimero).
The Ancajas victory has been listed as the first world crown for Manny Pacquiao Promotions, which won the purse bid and staged the championship.
With Sen. Pacquiao’s direct involvement, this could also be the start of something great. Pacquiao himself practically came in from nowhere, a last-minute substitution, when he conquered African Lehlo Ledwaba for the world super bantamweight crown, a triumph that touched off his remarkable rise to world boxing superstardom, the lone eight-division world title winner.