Former world champion Jerwin Ancajas is back in the country to resume his buildup for a shot at the World Boxing Association bantamweight crown in Japan on 24 February next year.
Sean Gibbons, who heads MP Promotions and Knuckleheads Boxing, personally fetched Ancajas at the airport at around noon Saturday.
Ancajas was joined by his longtime manager-trainer Joven Jimenez and another fighter Jonas Sultan.
Gibbons said they would all relocate to Magallanes, Cavite, as they rev up for the showdown with Takuma Inoue.
The Japanese champion is the younger brother of pound-for-pound star Naoya “Monster” Inoue, who is slated to meet Marlon Tapales for the undisputed world super-bantamweight titles on 26 December at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo.
Ancajas and Inoue were originally scheduled to face off last 15 November but an injury on the WBA 118-lb king prompted the postponement.
“If the rescheduled date was January, then I would have decided that they remain in the United States but since it (fight) is going to be late-February, I decided that they just set up camp in the Philippines,” Gibbons said.
Ancajas reigned as International Boxing Federation super-flyweight champion for almost six years before being upset by Fernando Martinez of Argentina last year.
Citing his difficulty in making weight, Ancajas was compelled to move up in weight so he doesn’t lose his strength.
In his bantam debut last June in Minneapolis, the Filipino lefty stopped Wilner Soto of Colombia.
After that, Ancajas, who turns 32 on New Year’s Day, stayed busy at the Knuckleheads Gym in Las Vegas with Jimenez watching over his every move.
Currently holding a 34-3-2 win-loss-draw record with 23 knockouts, Ancajas will become Inoue’s sixth Filipino rival.
Inoue, parading an 18-1 card with four knockouts, had won the WBA strap last April by beating Liborio Solis of Venezuela.
While in Las Vegas, Ancajas sparred with Jade Bornea, Sultan and even Tapales.
