DESPITE the slight delay of the biggest fight of his career, Jonas Sultan is still upbeat and focused on his target: to become a world champion.
?He?s in shape and very motivated,? ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer told SunStar Cebu.
Sultan is slated to face International Boxing Federation (IBF) super flyweight king Jerwin Ancajas in an all-Filipino world title fight that hasn?t been done in 93 years since Pancho Villa defended the world flyweight belt against Clever Sencio in 1925.
?I?m doing okay. I?m maintaining my training because my fight was postponed,? said the 25-year-old Sultan.
The Ancajas vs. Sultan fight was supposed to be scheduled on April 14 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas as one of the main featured bouts of the Jeff Horn vs. Terence Crawford bout. The show, however, was cancelled after Crawford injured his right hand in training, thus the postponement of the Ancajas vs. Sultan fight.
Sultan is deep in training at the ALA Gym and has been sparring with young Japanese pugs Tenta Kiyose and Musashi Mori. He, however, has to adjust his training.
?We have to adjust his sparring from 12 rounds back down to six,? said ALA Gym head trainer Edito Villamor.
Villamor pointed out that the mental aspect is important in this kind of situation.
?We need to talk to him and tell him not to lower his guard and he has to have a mindset that he has to be ready anytime for the fight regardless if it?s postponed or not,? he said.
The new date and venue of the Ancajas vs. Sultan fight will be announced this week.
?Top Rank mentioned that this week we would know,? said Aldeguer. (EKA)
