Jerwin Ancajas and trainer Joven Jimenez being interviewed during Wednesday’s meet and greet. Photo by Roy Luarca/INQUIRER
As a Filipino southpaw, Jerwin Ancajas was easily compared to the legendary Manny Pacquiao.
Ancajas even owns one of the 14 World titles Pacquiao once held, the IBF World super flyweight belt.
And Ancajas’ high-octane offensive style didn’t go unnoticed to the eyes of one of the boxing world’s most influential figures in Top Rank CEO Bob Arum.
Talking to BoxingScene.com, Arum, who is also the promoter of Pacquiao, expressed his excitement over Ancajas’ Top Rank debut on Sunday [Manila time].
“Obviously, our whole adventure [with Pacquiao] was so successful. It took up a good part of my life, certainly the recent part,” said Arum in the report.
“So you’ve got a kid like Jerwin who is very talented and is a lovely kid and you hope that it turns out the same way.”
Ancajas (28-1-1) will defend his title for the fourth time against Mexico’s Israel Gonzalez (21-1) at Bank of America Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The 26-year-old Ancajas’ fight against Gonzalez will be the first time Arum will see the Filipino in action, although the Top Rank boss already has in idea of the capabilities of his new fighter.
“I have never seen him before and Sean Gibbons [who is a part of Ancajas’ brain trust] had brought him in and convinced everybody that he would perform well and he was on television both to the United States and Australia.”
The fight Arum talked about was Ancajas’ methodical destruction of Teiru Kinoshita in July of 2017 that ended via technical knockout in the seventh round.
“He destroyed the Japanese fighter,” said Arum.