Jerwin Ancajas impresses in super bantamweight debut after knocking out Colombian foe

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Filipino boxing star Jerwin Ancajas successfully won his debut fight in the super bantamweight division after scoring a fifth-round knockout on Colombian Wilner Soto last June 25, 2023, held at The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

It was a much-needed victory for Ancajas after losing his International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior bantamweight title to Fernando Martinez last year to get back on track and regain his winning ways.

Ancajas immediately put on a show despite fighting in a different weight class for the first time in five years, punishing the Colombian with his signature snappy jabs in the first two rounds.

Gaining more weight wasn’t a disadvantage to Ancajas’ camp as the Filipino striker looked comfortable with his ring movement and even displayed better head movement and footwork to evade most of Soto’s attacks.

Ancajas began to step on the gas pedal in the third round after applying pressure to Sotto while hounding him every time he chose to backpedal.

Things got worse for the Colombian after Ancajas managed to gauge his preferred distance to unleash a series of body shots that started to slow down Soto in the last two rounds.

Ancajas scored the first knockdown of the match midway through the fourth round after pinning Soto in the ropes.

As he hit him with a flurry of punches, Ancajas then followed it up with a powerful hook that put Soto down on the canvas.

With only 29 seconds left in the following round, Ancajas then sent in the final blow, connecting on three vicious right shots to Soto’s body.

The match referee then waved off the match in favor of Ancajas and improved his professional record to 34 wins, 23 knockouts, and three losses.