Martinez takes IBF super fly belt from champ Ancajas via unanimous decision
Jerwin Ancajas during the post-fight interview. | Showtime Boxing
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The six-year reign of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) world super flyweight champion Jerwin “Pretty Boy” Ancajas came to an end after losing the title to underdog Fernando Martinez of Argentina via unanimous decision on Saturday night (Sunday, Manila Time) at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, USA.
The unbeaten 30-year-old Martinez dethroned Ancajas with a unanimous decision victory after 12-rounds. Judges David Sutherland and Steve Weisfeld both scored 118-110 while Max De Luca saw the bout 117-111 all in favor of the previously ranked No. 11 contender.
Martinez was a replacement for WBO super flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka of Japan who was forced to withdraw from the fight after his country closed its borders due to the uptrend of COVID-19 earlier this year.
With the victory, Martinez of Buenos Aires, Argentina improved to 14 wins with eight knockouts.
Meanwhile, Ancajas absorbed his second loss with 33 wins, 22 knockouts and 2 draws.
With Ancajas’s defeat, there are only four remaining Filipino world champions in boxing. They are WBC world bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire, WBO world bantamweight titlist Johnriel Casimero, WBC featherweight champion Mark Magsayo, and IBF minimumweight champion Rene Mark Cuarto.
It was a lopsided victory for Martinez, who connected the telling blows throughout the fight. After the ninth round during the break, referee Jack Reiss approached Ancajas’s corner to check on the latter after absorbing many punches in the previous rounds.
Martinez brought the fight to Ancajas by applying pressure against the latter. Martinez banked on his accurate combinations which many of them left unanswered.
The same scenario of Martinez launching multiple hooks to the head and body of Ancajas continued in the ensuing rounds.
Ancajas had his fair share of good moments by landing combinations, but this wasn’t enough to convince the judges against the busier and more aggressive Martinez.
In total, Martinez connected 427 of his 1,046 punches while Ancajas only landed 192 of his 816 punches.
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