By Keith Idec
Jerwin Ancajas didn’t even impress himself in his last fight.
The IBF super flyweight champion admits he doesn’t think much of his last performance, even though he easily defeated fellow Filipino Jonas Sultan in their title fight four months ago. Ancajas easily won a unanimous decision over Sultan in their 12-round, 115-pound championship match May 26 in Fresno, California, yet feels he must perform in a more entertaining way Friday night.
That’s when the 26-year-old Ancajas (30-1-1, 20 KOs) is scheduled to make the sixth defense of his title against Alejandro Santiago (16-2-4, 7 KOs) in a fight ESPN+ will stream live from Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
“The last fight, we weren’t that impressive,” Ancajas said. “This time, we trained hard and long. We did things that we didn’t do before, and we’ll try our best to come up with a better performance this time.”
Mexico’s Santiago will fight for a world title for the first time since turning pro at 16 in December 2012.
“This means a lot to me,” Santiago said. “I’ve been training really hard for this fight. I am going to do my best to take this title with us.”
The 22-year-old contender is 8-0-3 since suffering his last loss, a six-round split decision to Johnny Michel Garcia (then 2-2) in November 2014. Two of Santiago’s draws during that span came against Puerto Rico’s Jose Martinez (20-0-2, 13 KOs).
“I feel very comfortable,” Santiago said. “I don’t feel any pressure. If you look at my record, I’ve fought plenty of guys in their backyards. I prepare myself for 12 rounds. I won’t go in there looking for the knockout. I’m going to go in there and try and win the rounds.”
The ESPN+ stream Friday night also will include Venezuela’s Jose Uzcategui (27-2, 23 KOs), the IBF super middleweight champion, in a 10-round, non-title fight against Argentina’s Ezequiel Maderna (26-4, 16 KOs). The entire undercard will begin streaming on ESPN+ at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
