By Robert Hough at ringside
Photos: Sumio Yamada

IBF super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas (31-1-2, 21 KOs) promised to be better after two lackluster defenses of his title and the Filipino southpaw delivered, hammering Japan’s Ryuichi Funai (31-8, 22 KOs) with a slew of nasty headshots before the fight was stopped after seven rounds before 10,105 at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, California.

Ancajas, making his seventh title defense, started out slowly, content to observe and occasionally toss out a counter as Funai came forward. Action picked up in the third round as Ancajas threw more and landed regularly. In the fourth, the 27-year-old bludgeoned Funai, who was wobbling around some by the round’s end.

Checked by the ringside doctor before the fifth round, Funai kept coming forward, but the 34-year-old in his first title fight could not land consistently.

The action slowed some after the high-energy fourth round before Ancajas picked it up again in the seventh. Funai was ready for more, but the doctor said he wouldn’t get it.

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