Many have called junior bantamweight world titleholder Jerwin Ancajas the next Manny Pacquiao because he is also a southpaw from the Philippines with an exciting style, who also happens to be co-promoted by the eight-division world champion.
But while Ancajas may never reach the incredible level of fame and fortune as his all-time great countryman that doesn't mean he is not a good prizefighter, which he showed again on Saturday night.
In his United States debut, Ancajas retained his 115-pound world title for the fourth time as he knocked out Israel Gonzalez in the 10th round of an entertaining fight on the Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez-Habib Ahmed undercard at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Gonzalez was competitive but Ancajas appeared to win all of the rounds and scored three knockdowns.
"I was expecting the knockout," Ancajas, who has won all four of his title defenses by knockout, said through an interpreter.
Ancajas got off to a quick start when, barely a minute into the fight, he landed a straight left hand and knocked Gonzalez to his rear end. Gonzalez was not badly hurt and popped right up and resumed the fight.
Although he was OK after the knockdown, he did not have much success with Ancajas, who kept him at bay by continually stepping in with a hard right jab to set up his other punches.
Gonzalez, perhaps realizing he was falling behind on the scorecards, came out for the fifth round and went right at Ancajas, trying to rough him up. He landed a couple of sharp punches and they also had an accidental head-butt, but by the time the round ended Ancajas was back in control, landing combinations and sticking his jab in Gonzalez's face.
Ancajas (29-1-1, 20 KOs), 26, continued to win round after round in a competitive fight and punctuated the seventh by landing a booming right hook that sent sweat flying from Gonzalez's head.
Gonzalez (21-2, 8 KOs), 21, of Mexico, was open for a lot of punches because he continually stepped straight back with his hands at his side. Ancajas took advantage of that technical no-no when he landed a left hand on the chin to drop Gonzalez to his rear end in the 10th round. After the fight resumed, Ancajas threw one more punch -- a powerful straight left hand that landed on the temple area -- that caused Gonzalez to collapse to the mat as referee Rafael Ramos waved off the fight at 1 minute, 50 seconds.
According to CompuBox punch statistics, Ancajas landed 130 of 477 shots (27 percent) and Gonzalez 48 of 303 (16 percent).
If Ancajas, in his first fight since signing a co-promotional deal with Top Rank, continues to score knockouts like he has been doing, the comparisons to Pacquiao will persist. Ancajas said that's OK and it does not make him put any more pressure on himself.
"I'm not too worried about the comparisons to Manny Pacquiao," he said. "But if I can achieve a little bit of the success that he has achieved I will be very happy."