Don?t count Sultan out ? Aldeguer

If there was any indication, the last three fights of Jonas Sultan will prove his readiness to score an upset against Jerwin Ancajas this weekend.

In an overseas telephone interview, ALA Boxing Promotions president Michael Aldeguer said the 26-year-old Sultan (14-3, 9 knockouts) went through three litmus tests for his last three fights were he beat two former world champions and one up-and-coming boxer right in his home country.

It all started December of 2016 when Sultan was offered a fight in South Africa opposite Makazole Tete, said to be South Africa?s top prospect at that time who then had an impressive 15-1 record with 11 stoppages.

?We warned him that when you fight abroad it?s hard to win via decision. All he told us was he will prove his worth for this fight and true enough, he stopped the South African in the second round,? said Aldeguer.

After his South African gig, Sultan fought former world flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro who was coming off a nine-fight win streak only to be derailed by Sultan via eighth-round stoppage in their intriguing battle held in Binangonan, Rizal.

Then came Sultan?s biggest break when he faced a formidable former two-division world champion Johnriel Casimero in a 12-round world title eliminator September of last year in Cebu.

?It was a huge opportunity for him but we weren?t very sure because everybody known how experienced Casimero was,? admits Aldeguer ?But Jonas has a very positive attitude and his outlook is very confident he actually told us he already figured out Casimero a long time ago and he sees no reason why he will lose that fight.?

True to his promise, Sultan went on to dominate Casimero en route to scoring a convincing 12-round decision win, a victory that propelled the Zamboanga-native boxer to the top of the ratings and become the mandatory challenger of Ancajas.

Still, Aldeguer respects the take of oddsmakers for this fight which considers Ancajas a heavy favorite to keep his IBF belt.

?No question, Jerwin is a great fighter. He is on a roll but Jonas is very confident and told us this is his time. There are fighters who are more skillful than him but Jonas has a lot of determination which is something that cannot be taught,? said Aldeguer.

The 26-year-old Ancajas (29-1-1, 20 KOs) will be making the fifth defense of his IBF crown against Sultan who will only be in his first-ever world title bout. The two will meet in a 12-round title fight this Sunday (Manila time) at the Save Mart Arena in Fresno, California.