LOS ANGELES – Jerwin Ancajas couldn’t cut the last couple pounds prior to his first fight against Fernando Martinez the way he normally does.

The former IBF junior bantamweight champion admitted he started dropping weight too late in camp before their 12-round, 115-pound title fight February 26 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. Once the Filipino southpaw got down to 117 pounds, he had a tougher time than ever shedding those two final pounds.

Ancajas believes his unforeseen difficulty making weight was a contributing factor in his surprisingly one-sided, 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat to Martinez. Argentina’s Martinez upset Ancajas, who was a 5-1 favorite, by scores of 118-110, 118-110 and 117-111.

“In the first round, I felt pretty good. But in the second round, my legs started to cramp,” Ancajas told BoxingScene.com through a translator after a press conference Thursday at The Westin Los Angeles Airport. “And, for some reason, I couldn’t move. Maybe it was that I had trouble making the weight, but it affected me the rest of the way.”

The 30-year-old Ancajas had a smoother camp for their 12-round rematch Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

“In the last fight, I was confident I would be able to make the weight, even in the last few weeks before the fight,” said Ancajas, who walks around at a weight between 136 and 140 pounds. “So, I found out too late that I should’ve started cutting weight much earlier. I’m better prepared for this fight.”

Sean Gibbons, the president of Manny Pacquiao’s promotional company, expects a much more competitive fight from Ancajas this time around. Ancajas came in at 114¾ pounds Friday, the same weight as Martinez.

“It’s gonna be different because he made the weight properly this time,” Gibbons said. “He had a lot of trouble leading up to the first fight with the weight. And this time, it’s been a great camp. He hired the Philippine Sports Commission and he’s had no issues at all. And that was really the biggest problem. Last time, he got down to 117 pounds and then from 117 to 115 really took the life out of him. So, when he talks about cramps, he fought from about the fourth round on just guts and balls, just a big heart.”

Ancajas held the IBF 115-pound championship for almost 5½ years. He has drawn even more motivation while preparing for this rematch because, for the first time in a long time, there isn’t a single Filipino boxer that owns an IBF, WBA, WBC or WBO belt.

“I want to inspire Filipino boxers by winning back the championship,” Ancajas said. “And my wife is expecting our fourth baby in January, so that’s extra motivation for me. But the fact that the Philippines has no world champions among the four governing bodies right now, it’s also extra motivation for me to break back into that elite circle. We have one world champion right now with the IBO, Dave Apolinario, in the [flyweight] division. But that’s not one of the major governing bodies, so I’m very motivated to win this fight.”

Caesars Sportsbook listed Martinez (14-0, 8 KOs) as almost a 3-1 favorite Friday to beat Ancajas (33-2-2, 22 KOs). Their immediate rematch, which the 31-year-old Martinez was contractually obligated to grant Ancajas, will start Showtime’s tripleheader Saturday night (10 p.m. ET; 7 p.m. PT).

In the fight following Martinez-Ancajas, Showtime will air a 12-round co-feature in which the Dominican Republic’s Carlos Adames (21-1, 16 KOs) and Mexico’s Juan Macias Montiel (23-5-2, 23 KOs) will fight for the WBC’s vacant interim middleweight title. Sebastian Fundora (19-0-1, 13 KOs), a southpaw from Coachella, California, will defend his WBC interim super welterweight title against Mexico’s Carlos Ocampo (34-1, 22 KOs) in Showtime’s 12-round main event.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.