INDIO, California – Former junior bantamweight titleholder Jerwin Ancajas will return to the ring versus Ruben Dario Casero on August 2 at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, Ancajas advisor Sean Gibbons told BoxingScene on Thursday.
Ancajas, 36-4-2 (24 KOs), was seeking to land on Manny Pacquiao’s undercard Saturday in Las Vegas, but Gibbons said the Nevada Athletic Commission rejected several proposed opponents to squash the plans.
The California State Athletic Commission approved Uruguay’s 32-year-old Casero, 13-4 (5 KOs), and the bout lands on a MarvNation card.
Ancajas is ranked in the top 10 among junior featherweights by three sanctioning bodies (WBO No. 5, IBF No. 6, WBA No. 8), and his pedigree and status as a former titleholder is expected to move him toward significant bouts in the division ruled by undisputed champion Naoya Inoue.
Casero will make his U.S. debut in the bout, which is scheduled for eight rounds.
This is Ancajas’ third 122lbs bout, and he expressed confidence after training alongside countrymen Pacquiao, Mark Magsayo and Eumir Marcial in Los Angeles.
“My opponent is so aggressive. That is why I must always be cautious,” Ancajas said in a prepared statement. “I am glad that I finally have a fight.”
Gibbons called the bout a “stepping stone” toward a world title.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
