Jerwin Ancajas, Jonas Sultan knocked out by Japanese foes

Jerwin Ancajas, Jonas Sultan knocked out by Japanese foes

MANILA, Philippines—On Saturday night at Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo, Filipino fighters were felled by a common kryptonite: Japanese body shots.

Former Filipino world champion Jerwin Ancajas lost by a ninth-round knockout even as Takuma Inoue retained the WBA bantamweight world title before his hometown crowd.

Ancajas and Takuma mixed it up early in that round before the latter pulled away for enough space to land a right hook that sent the Filipino fighter to the canvas.

READ: Ancajas the underdog looking for convincing win over Inoue

The referee waved off Ancajas, who coincidentally was using body shots early in the match to contain Inoue.

In round five of the contest, both fighters figured in a back-and-forth until the final ten seconds when Inoue lured Ancajas to the ropes and unleashed a frenzy of punches that stunned the 32-year-old Filipino.

Ancajas seemingly fought to survive from thereon, but got caught with several power shots and counterpunches from the younger brother of super bantamweight sensation Naoya.

Takuma improved to a 19-1 record after the victory while also registering his fitch career knockout win. Ancajas, meanwhile, dropped to 34-4-2.

Earlier, another Filipino boxer in Jonas Sultan also fell victim to Japanese fighter Riku Masuda.

In the 50-second mark of the opening round, Masuda saw an opening and connected with a left hook to Sultan’s abdomen, sending the Filipino to the mat.

Sultan tried to beat the count and even got up, but obvious signs of breathing difficulties urged the official to stop the match, handing Masuda the knockout victory.

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