The camp of Jerwin Ancajas feels the Filipino world champion is ready to rumble with Mexican challenger Israel Gonzalez now even though his fourth defense of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight crown is three weeks away.
“We are actually starting to wind down in our training,” said Joven Jimenez, who manages and trains Ancajas yesterday from their base camp in Magallanes, Cavite.
Ancajas is booked to make his US debut on US national TV on Feb. 3 in Corpus Christi, Texas, with Top Rank showcasing him with the help of ESPN.
The past few weeks, Ancajas has been diligently training and hardly missing a beat in his preparation for the crucial Gonzalez bout that marks his first fight under Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum.
“Conditioning-wise, Jerwin is right there. He is almost 100 percent,” said Jimenez.
To ensure that Ancajas gets quality sparring, super-bantamweight Ernesto Saulong, who is getting ready to fight for a world title on March 1 in Tokyo, has been tapped to serve as one of his sparmates.
“We are not taking things lightly,” said Jimenez, knowing that a loss to Gonzalez could ruin their plans.
