A scuffle ensued after a water bottle was thrown at Jerwin Ancajas (red gloves) during a sparring session. EUMIR MARCIAL YOUTUBE
MANILA, Philippines—All’s well that ends well after a dust-up ensued during one of Jerwin Ancajas’ sparring sessions at Capetillo Gym in Las Vegas.
Ancajas, who is preparing to defend his IBF super flyweight title against Fernando Daniel Martinez, got into a scuffle after a water bottle was thrown at him by an opposing trainer as the Filipino boxer knocked down his sparring partner.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Eumir Marcial, who is also training at Jorge Capetillo’s gym, posted a video of the incident on his YouTube channel while Ancajas apologized for the argument in a video on coach Joven Jimenez’s account.
Ancajas said that while tempers flared during the commotion, cooler heads were able to pacify things including the mother of the IBF champion’s sparring partner.
“The good thing that came out of that incident was I apologized to my sparring partner and to the coach who threw that water bottle at me,” said Ancajas in Filipino. “My sparring partner’s mother was also there to take a video of the session and she was even the one who told us that this is natural in boxing.”
“The mother approached us and thanked us for teaching his son a lesson in boxing.”
Ancajas, who will make his Las Vegas debut on February 26 at The Cosmopolitan, was having a hard time enforcing his offense in the first round against his taller opponent but managed to stick to the body in the second.
Despite being pinned to the ropes, the American boxer egged Ancajas to come at him and this led to WBO intercontinental bantamweight champion Jonas Sultan, who is helping Ancajas in his training camp, to instruct his teammate to go for a haymaker.
“I also told my sparring mate some words of encouragement,” said Ancajas. “I told him that he’s a good boxer and that he shouldn’t be discouraged after what happened. That’s boxing, and I admit that my opponent is a good boxer.”