Takuma Inoue-Jerwin Ancajas WBA Bantamweight Title Fight Set, November 15 In Japan
Takuma Inoue was the first to scoop up one of the vacant bantamweight titles left behind by his older brother.
He is now also the first to defend one.
Japan’s Inoue is set to face former IBF junior bantamweight titleholder Jerwin Ancajas of the Philippines in a voluntary defense of his WBA bantamweight title. The bout is due to take place November 15 at a location to be determined in Japan, confirming a previous breaking news scoop tweeted by Filipino boxing video journalist Anthony Joaquin Arieta.
Inoue (18-1, 4KOs) won the vacant WBA 118-pound title in a twelve-round, unanimous decision over Liborio Solis on April 8 in Tokyo. The win saw the 27-year-old from Yokohama become a major titlist on his second attempt.
His lone career defeat came in a failed November 2019 title challenge of then-unbeaten WBC beltholder Nordine Oubaali. Inoue fought once more at bantamweight before he moved up to junior featherweight while older brother Naoya Inoue (25-0, 22KOs) proceeded with his campaign to fully unify the bantamweight division.
The mission was completed last December 13, but the older Inoue relinquished all four titles one month later—and only after Takuma was in a guaranteed position to challenge for one of the belts. The younger Inoue promptly returned to bantamweight to fill the WBA vacancy.
Ancajas (34-3-2, 23KOs) returned to the win column with a fifth-round knockout of Wilner Soto on June 24 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The feat ended a two-fight losing skid, both at the hands of Argentina’s Fernando Martinez who claimed the IBF junior bantamweight title and subsequently defended both in separate unanimous decision wins over the 31-year-old southpaw from Panabo City, Philippines.
The confidence-restoring win over Soto was enough for Ancajas—who is promoted by Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions—to magically appear in the WBA bantamweight rankings in time to enter talks for a fight versus Inoue. A deal was struck relatively quicky, as the two reached terms in late July and waited on a fight date.
Inoue’s title win came one month ahead of Australia’s Jason Moloney’s May 13 victory over Vincent Astrolabio to win the WBO bantamweight belt.
Tijuana’s Alexandro Santiago picked up the vacant WBC title in a July 29 lopsided defeat over legendary former four-division champion Nonito Donaire. The fourth and final vacancy was filled on August 12, when Emmanuel Rodriguez pitched a 12-round shutout over badly outgunned Melvin Lopez to become a two-time IBF bantamweight titleholder.
