Ancajas won’t stop

FILE — Jerwin Ancajas. Photo by Mark Giongco

Jerwin Ancajas’ dedication to his craft knows no bounds.

He will train, be it Christmas or New Year, which happens to be his 26th birthday.

While almost all people are partying or enjoying Monday’s revelry, Ancajas, as he did last week, continued his preparations for his defense of the International Boxing Federation junior bantamweight title against Mexican Israel Gonzalez on Feb. 3 at the Bank of America Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, in the US.

According to his trainer, Joven Jimenez, Ancajas did his morning run at 9:30 before an hour of gym work at his Survival Camp in Brgy. Ramirez in Magallanes, Cavite.

Jimenez said Ancajas is right on track for his debut with Top Rank Promotions in the United States, having done 40 rounds of sparring against five partners and whipping his well-chiseled body into shape.

As in his training for his three successful title defenses last year, against Mexican Jose Alfredo Rodriguez in Macau, Japanese Teiru Kinoshita in Brisbane, Australia, and Irish Jamie Conlan in Belfast, Ireland, Ancajas will spend the whole training camp in the country.

Team Ancajas will leave on Jan. 25 to acclimatize and shed extra pounds, if necessary.

Though Ancajas (28-1-1, 19 knockouts) is tipped to beat Gonzalez (21-1, 8 KOs) in the
12-rounder to be shown by global sports television channel ESPN, Jimenez said they aren’t taking the Mexican lightly.

“I’ve been watching footages of his workouts and he’s a typical Mexican fighter,” said Jimenez. “He is tough, aggressive and always throws punches. We will be ready to whatever he will bring on the ring.”

Jimenez anchors his faith on Ancajas, whose work ethic is beyond compare.

Milan Melindo sidetracked

While Ancajas’ career is on the upswing, Milan Melindo’s took a nosedive.

Melindo was beaten by World Boxing Association champion Ryoichi Taguchi in their bloody light flyweight unification title bout in Tokyo on New Year’s Eve and will come home without his IBF belt.

Hampered by his brittle face skin and shorter reach (two inches), Melindo yielded a unanimous decision, 117-111, twice, and 116-112, to the Japanese who made his seventh successful title defense and climbed to 27-2-2 with 12 knockouts.

The 29-year-old Melindo fell to 37-3 with 13 KOs and dropped his bid of becoming undisputed champion.