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TOKYO — The sharpness wasn’t there from the beginning as Jerwin “Pretty Boy” Ancajas could not even hold his ground, losing to reigning World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight champion Takuma Inoue in a ninth round knockout on Saturday.
Inoue’s impressive triumph in the main event only proved the dominance of the Japanese boxers here at the historic 11,000-capacity Ryogoku Kokugikan, after they won all the three world title fights in their home turf.
Ancajas went for the body in the ninth round, trying to land a clean shot on Inoue, but the Japanese countered with a clean body shot that broke down the former International Boxing Federation (IBF) super flyweight champion at the 44 second mark.
“I never felt this pain before — not even in sparring — after Takuma [Inoue] hit me with a body shot. I focused on hitting him with a body shot, but I never thought I would be the one to be knocked by a body shot,” an emotional Ancajas told reporters after the fight.
“Takuma was the better fighter today. My morale is down tonight as I have never experienced this feeling in my entire career, so down.”
Inoue, the younger brother of unbeaten and undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya, dominated Ancajas in most rounds particularly in the third and fifth rounds.
Ancajas, who dropped to 34-4-2 win-loss-draw record with 23 knockouts, made the fight close as he was looking for a knockout in the body in the early rounds, but Inoue adjusted very well hitting the Filipino with good combinations.
“I didn’t know what to expect, but I’m really glad that we got this result,” Inoue, who improved to 19-1 win-loss record with five knockouts, said during the post fight interview. “I knew my opponent would be the best. He was so skilled and so strong which gives so much confidence.”
In the other world championship bout, Junto Nakatani of Japan relied on his long reach to score a sixth-round technical knockout victory and dethrone erstwhile champion Alexandro Santiago of Mexico to seize the World Boxing Council (WBC) bantamweight belt.
Nakatani created a separation using his killer jabs before landing a left straight on Santiago’s jaw that floored the Mexican warrior for the second straight time and referee Laurence Cole halted the fight with 1:12 left in the sixth round.
The 26-year-old Japanese, now undefeated in 27 bouts with 20 knockouts, is now a three-division world champion. Santiago suffered his fourth defeat in 37 bouts on top of 28 victories with 14 knockouts and five draws.
Another Japanese Kosei Tanaka beat a tough Mexican Christian Bacasegua Rangel via unanimous decision to become a four-division world champion after winning the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) super flyweight belt.
Tanaka’s win-loss record improved to 20-1 with 11 knockouts and Rangel dropped to 22-5-2 record with nine knockouts.
Jonas Sultan, meanwhile, suffered a first round technical knockout beating after being solidly hit with a devastating body shot by Riku Masuda in their eight-round non-title bantamweight bout.
Masuda punished Sultan’s defense and a solid right to the body easily ended the bout with just only 40 seconds remaining in the first round, improving the Japanese southpaw record to four wins against a loss with four knockouts.
“I was timely hit in my left side of the body, I tried to beat the count, but I couldn’t,” Sultan said.
Sultan, who tried to get up but couldn’t beat referee Michiaki Someya’s mandatory eight-count, fell to 19-7 record with 11 knockouts.
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