Jerwin Ancajas raring to unify belts

Jerwin Ancajas of the Philippines gestures to fans after defeating Ryuichi Funai of Japan in their 12-round Super Flyweight IBF World Title fight in Stockton, California on May 4, 2019. – Ancajas defended his title for the seventh time with a TKO over Funai who absorbed punishment until round 7 when the rignside physician ordered the ref to stop the fight. | Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP

MANILA, Philippines — Staying in just one weight class for so long has been somewhat unheard of in the current boxing landscape with fighters usually tend to jump from one division to another.

World champions usually take this path to earn more lucrative deals or test their skills against the best in the sport and this is what Jerwin Ancajas also dreams of.

Ancajas (32-1-2) has reigned as the IBF super flyweight world champion since September of 2016 when he defeated McJoe Arroyo for the strap.

And while one of his top goals is to become an undisputed champion, Ancajas knows a lot of factors come into play before fights are made and it largely depends on the promoter.

“I want to become the undisputed champion but I think that’s a difficult achievement to get because even though the other champions say that they want to fight me or I say that I want to fight them the fights still depend on the promoter,” said Ancajas in Filipino in a Zoom interview with Inquirer Sunday.

“There are promoters who want to protect their fighters, that’s what I’ve come to learn in boxing.”

Ancajas said that if he doesn’t become an undisputed champion, then the next best thing for him is to be a unified super flyweight champion instead before considering climbing up.

“My dream is to unify my belt with at least one more then maybe I’ll move up in weight,” said Ancajas.

The 28-year-old southpaw’s wish, though, could become a reality soon.

Ancajas still has a penciled title defense against Jonathan Rodriguez in September but Arum is already looking to pit him against WBA “regular” champion Joshua Franco.

“We’re excited because he holds the WBA title and I was really surprised with how Franco fights and he’s a fighter that you shouldn’t overlook even if you don’t know him that well,” said Ancajas who was impressed with the American’s win over Andrew Moloney in June.

“We haven’t seen much of Franco but he has the skills and he’s good. I’m really excited to match up against him.”