By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Despite suffering a devastating loss at the hands of Takuma Inoue several days ago, the Manny Pacquiao (MP) Promotions bared that they still believe Jerwin Ancajas can bounce back and return from clinching another boxing world title bid.
According to MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons, they already plotted Ancajas’ future for his professional boxing career.
Gibbons said that they are planning to let him recover first from the defeat before taking 1-2 matches to resume his campaign.
The amiable sports patron also said that if Ancajas wins his next set of matches, they can go back to negotiating for another world title challenge if he remains in the bantamweight division.
“We just have to work ourselves back around 118 or 122 pounds whatever it may be. He is a young man, he is 32 years old, has a lot of fight left,” said Gibbons.
It was a disappointing outing for Ancajas after receiving his first-ever knockout loss in a championship bout against Inoue.
In an attempt to snatch Inoue’s World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight belt last February 25, 2024, in Tokyo, Ancajas went down from a vicious body shot with only 45 seconds left in the ninth round.
For the Ancajas camp, the strategy was to engage Inoue in the short distance. That move paid off in several rounds but Inoue’s corner deployed the much-needed adjustments at the start of the third.
Ancajas had his moments in the middle of the rounds when he landed several three-punch combinations to Inoue’s head and mid-section. In retaliation, the current WBA bantamweight king navigated his options and decided to stick with his one-punch efficiency to pile up his points.
All hell broke loose in the ninth round as Inoue was able to find a window of opportunity in the final 50 seconds of the frame.
With the decisive victory, Inoue just improved his professional record to 19 wins, five knockouts, with only a single defeat. On the other hand, the more experienced Ancajas dropped to 34 wins, four losses, and 23 knockouts.
