Jerwin Ancajas held onto his junior bantamweight title but had to work harder than at any time in his career.
Ancajas, making his ninth defense, landed more big punches than Jonathan Rodriguez and put the challenger down to win a unanimous decision on the Jaron Ennis-Sergey Lipinets on Saturday in Uncasville, Conn.
However, Rodriguez, a relative unknown, made the case in defeat that he’s an elite 115-pounder but pushing Ancajas to the limit.
Ancajas (33-1-2, 22 KOs) got the better Rodriguez (22-2, 16 KOs) when he fought behind his jab and used his superior boxing skills, which he did at times.
However, the Filipino chose to stand toe-to-toe — or was forced to do so — much of fight, which made for an exciting battle and allowed Rodriguez to get in his licks.
The fight was essentially a back-and-forth war, with both boxers landing hard shots to both the head body. Many of the rounds were close for that reason.
Nothing had changed much by the middle of Round 8. Then a flurry of punishing blows from Ancajas forced Rodriguez to take a knee, which made it a 10-8 round.
The referee and Rodriguez’s cornermen asked him after the round whether he wanted to continue. He answered by getting the better of the champion from Round 9 to 12.
In the end, the knockdown didn’t matter. Ancajas, who hasn’t lost since 2012, won by scores of 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112. Boxing Junkie scored it 116-112, eight rounds to four.
Ancajas said he hoped the fight would lead to showdowns with the biggest stars in the division, Juan Francisco Estrada, Roman Gonzalez and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
The victory puts him in a position to get those opportunties.