Jerwin Ancajas. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Jerwin Ancajas, the reigning IBF world bantamweight champion, is not a big fan of the rambunctious fight-week hype.
On the day he came face-to-face against challenger Alejandro Santiago of Mexico, Ancajas greeted him with a warmth more suited for old friends than enemies scheduled for a vicious square off in the ring.
They once again crossed paths Wednesday in the final presser with nary an incident that promoters could use to fuel interest in the fight.
But that doesn’t mean there won’t be fireworks when Ancajas (30-1-1 with 20 knockouts) stakes his two-year-old belt against the dangerous Santiago on Saturday morning (Manila time), at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
The 26-year-old Ancajas vowed to come up with a performance that would finally put him in line for a big fight.
“The last fight I wasn’t that impressive,” admitted Ancajas. “This time I trained very hard and long. We did things we didn’t do before, and we’ll try our best to come up with a better performance this time.”
Ancajas is coming from an uneventful unanimous decision win over fellow Filipino Jonas Sultan last May also in California.
Santiago (16-2-4 with seven KOs) can’t be discounted though as he is also trying to snag bigger paychecks.
The fight card includes as comainer a non-title fight between IBF super middleweight champion Jose Uzcategui (27-2, 23 KOs) and Ezequiel Maderna (26-4, 16 KOs).
Filipino featherweight contender Genesis Servania (31-1, 14 KOs) will take on Carlos Carlson (22-4, 13 KOs) while Giovanni Delgado (16-7, 9 KOs) fights Joshua Greer Jr. (17-1-1, 9 KOs) in a super bantamweight bout.