Jerwin Ancajas W12 Jonathan Rodríguez ... In the Showtime telecast opener, IBF 115-pound champion Jerwin “Pretty Boy” Ancajas (31-1-2, 22 KOs) successfully defended his title for the ninth time with a unanimous decision victory over Jonathan Rodríguez (21-2, 16 KOs) in an action-packed twelve-round affair. The nine consecutive title defenses marks the most of any current champion. Fighting out of the Philippines, the 29 year-old controlled the pace of the fight with a consistent dedication to the body, where he landed 131 of his 232 total punches. The ringside judges scored the fight 115-112, 116-111 and 117-110 for Ancajas, while unofficial ringside scorer Steve Farhood tallied the fight at 114-113. Farhood agreed with the three official judges in giving the final three rounds to Rodriguez. Despite dropping the decision, the 25 year-old Rodriguez showed tremendous determination and high-level skill in his first world title fight and U.S. debut.
“I’m very happy to get the win. I waited a long time for the opportunity to get back in the ring and it’s exciting to win in my first fight on this stage fighting on Showtime,” said Ancajas. “This was my toughest fight so far. It was the hardest of any of my nine defenses and it’s exciting that it was on a big card. I trained hard for this opportunity and it feels great to get the win.”
The title fight featured back-and-forth action with Mexico’s Rodriguez pressuring and baiting the champion to fight him at close distance. At the end of the eighth round, Ancajas finished a flurry of punches with a huge right hand that sent Rodriguez to the canvas for the first time in his career.
“I thought he was going to be stopped because I saw him look at his corner and it didn’t look like he wanted to go on,” continued Ancajas. “But he got up and fought and I respect him for doing that.”
Rodriguez disagreed with the verdict, saying, “I don’t think it was a just decision. I thought maybe a split decision, and I would accept it a little more. But we knew coming in that the judges were against us in this fight.” source: showtime
