Jerwin Ancajas swears he will not fall into a booby trap called overconfidence.
Five weeks before he leaves for the US to make a mandatory defense of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight crown against Jonas Sultan, the southpaw Ancajas is making sure that his buildup for the May 26 fight at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas will follow his script.
?That?s something I am avoiding?going into the fight overconfident,? said Ancajas (29-1-1 with 20 KOs) from his mountainous training camp in Magallanes, Cavite.
Ancajas, who is defending the IBF 115-lb title for the fifth time, insists that there is nothing wrong going into the fight feeling superbly confident.
?But not overconfident because when you are (overconfident), you take things for granted and you don?t train as hard,? he said.
While Sultan is the overwhelming underdog, Ancajas believes his Cebu-based opponent will be coming into the fight in the?best condition of his life.?
?He (Sultan) knows that this is the chance of a lifetime,? he added.
Sultan (14-3 with nine KOs) admits he is training like no other the past few weeks, knowing all too well that he has to come up with a superhuman effort to unseat Ancajas, whose schedule for the year is already stacked with two more fights in the fall and in the winter.
?I am going all out in my training and during the fight, I will push myself to the limit,? said Sultan, whose scheduled 12-rounder with Ancajas is the first all-Filipino world title fight in almost a century after Pancho Villa beat Clever Sencio with Villa?s world fly throne on the line.
During a chance encounter two weeks ago in Manila, Ancajas and Sultan, who are Facebook friends, exchanged pleasantries and posed for pictures as though they were longtime drinking buddies.
But a keen observer from the sidelines during the affair, world fly titlist Donnie Nietes, said all that took place was a sheer smokescreen.
?It?ll be very different when they meet in the ring,? said Nietes.
