Ancajas ((26-1-1, 16 KOs) rose to prominence when he scored a unanimous decision win against McJoe Arroyo of Puerto Rico to grab the IBF super flyweight title in March 2016 at the Marine Corps, Barangay Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, Metro Manila, Philippines.
Ancajas has defended his title once against José Alfredo Rodríguez of Mexico by way of a technical decision last January at the Cotai Arena of the Venetian Resort in Macau, China.
On Saturday night, Ancajas will try to defend his title for the second time against the hard-hitting Japanese challenger.
The 25-year old native of Panabo City, Davao del Norte, Philippines is fighting under Manny Paquiao’s MP Promotions. Ancajas recently visited Pacquiao in his training camp in Pasay City to brief his promoter about his preparations of the upcoming title fight.
“Boss Manny asked me about my training and how much I weigh,” said Ancajas in Pilipino. “I told him no problem with training and weight. This is a big opportunity for me because my fight will be shown live on ESPN in the US. I’m excited to put on a good showing. I promised Boss Manny I’ll do my best. I owe my career to him. I won’t let him down,” he added.
The Ancajas-Kinoshita title fight will be featured as one of the supporting bouts for the Pacquiao-Horn fight Saturday night. Other fights in the supporting events include a Middleweight fight between Dave Toussaint and Shane Mosley Jr., a Light Heavyweight bout between Damien Hooper and Umar Salamov, a Featherweight fight between Jarret Owen and Michael Conlan and a Bantamweight fight between Brock Jarvis vs. Andika Sabu. Read more:
Meanwhile, Pacquiao and his entourage have already arrived in Australia after taking a chartered Air Asia flight from General Santos City where Team Pacquiao held its second leg of training for the Horn fight.
