FILE –Filipino boxer Jerwin Ancajas. AFP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Jerwin Ancajas’ road to getting that undisputed championship took its first step after it was announced that he would stake his IBF super flyweight title in a unification bout against WBO titleholder Kazuto Ioka.
While that fight is a month away, his promoter Sean Gibbons is already trying to cook up the next step to capture the other straps.
Gibbons said that if Ancajas does beat Ioka to become a two-belt champion, the next logical step is to wait for whoever holds the WBA, WBC, and Ring Magazine titles.
“By unifying these two belts, IBF and WBO, the idea after this is to see who the winner that comes out of the WBA and WBC unification,” said Gibbons Thursday in a YouTube livestream from Ancajas’ channel Joven Sports.
“It’s never been done in history, the unification of all four belts at 115 pounds all it’s actually 5 belts because of Ring Magazine title.”
Juan Francisco Estrada is the other champion at super flyweight as he holds the WBA Super and Ring Magazine belts.
The WBC, however, doesn’t have a titleholder at 115 lbs but it lists Estrada as its franchise champion.
Despite the WBC not having a champion at super flyweight it does have a plethora of fighters trying to take the green and gold belt including former holders Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, and Carlos Cuadras.
MOVING UP
“This is the other half of the puzzle [WBO and IBF unification] and you have Roman Gonzalez, Juan Estrada, Carlos Cuadras, and you Sor Rungvisai,” said Gibbons. “You need all the pieces to put the puzzle together.”
There, is however, the chance that Ancajas could move up in weight if an undisputed match couldn’t be settled and challenge pound-for-pound superstar Naoya Inoue.
“He can go and see what happens with Chocolatito, Carlos Cuadras, and Estrada or the big fight he would love after he whoops one Japanese guy he goes to another one, Inoue,” said Gibbons.
Inoue, the WBA, IBF, and Ring Magazine bantamweight champion, is the publication’s no.4 pound-for-pound fighter.
Ancajas, who will be making his 10th defense of the IBF title, will face Ioka in Tokyo, Japan on New Year’s Eve—a special holiday in the country.