Bob Arum uncertain to pursue Ancajas’ 9th title defense

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Bob Arum is uncertain whether to push through with Filipino world champion Jerwin Ancajas’ 9th title defense amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The big boss of Top Rank Promotions, Arum said that he is delighted and excited to bring Ancajas to Las Vegas and stage his blockbuster fight against Mexican Jonathan Javier Rodriguez there, but COVID-19 issues continue to bug the plan.

Currently, Ancajas is training in the Philippines after the country issued an enhanced community quarantine that prevented sea and air travel, thus, not allowing Ancajas to fly to the US.

The bout was originally scheduled on April 11 but the pandemic caused the fight to be cancelled with so far, no new fight date has been finalized yet.

After Johnriel Casimero’s fight was called off against Naoya “Monster” Inoue, Ancajas’ faith is on the line, especially that the pandemic is still wreaking havoc across the nation.

“It’s not as simple as whether we’d want to use Aancajas right away. Of course, we would but we are unable to. This is an uncertain period,” Arum explained.