Jade Bornea may have earned a shot at the IBF junior bantamweight title currently held by Jerwin Ancajas, but don’t expect an all-Filipino showdown between the two any time soon.

The 26-year-old from Cotabato del Norte province tells The Ring that he’d prefer to face someone other than his fellow Mindanaoan, because the two have trained together extensively in Los Angeles.

“I got great experience from sparring with Jerwin,” said Bornea (17-0, 11 knockouts), who knocked out Mohammed Obbadi in three rounds last Friday in an IBF elimination bout which was held in Monterrey, Mexico. The switch-hitting Bornea finished the job with a slicing left hand to the body, putting the Moroccan down for the count.

Bornea’s promoter Jim Claude Manangquil says the team will begin discussing options for Bornea’s next fight this week.

“I’m gonna talk to the group because fighting Jerwin is not our plan,” said Manangquil, CEO of the Philippines-based Sanman Promotions. “If [Ancajas] says he is gonna have two more fights at 115 pounds [before moving up to bantamweight], then who knows.”

Manangquil says he was impressed with Bornea, a former amateur standout who once defeated future world champions Murodjon Akhmadaliev and Kosei Tanaka in the same tournament. He credits the three-plus months that Bornea spent training with coaches Ernel Fontanilla and Ting Ariosa in Los Angeles.

“Jade looked very good and ready for a world title. He showed he belongs to the top of the 115-pound division,” said Manangquil. “Jade just needed the training and conditioning he had in L.A. If he is in that shape, he can beat anyone in the division.”

Ancajas has held the IBF title since 2016, making nine defenses. Ancajas had been scheduled to unify with WBO titleholder Kazuto Ioka on New Year’s Eve, but that plan was scuttled when Japan closed its borders to foreign travelers due to the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Ancajas is instead expected to make a voluntary defense against Fernando Daniel Martinez of Argentina next month. Ancajas did face one Filipino fighter among his defenses, defeating mandatory challenger – and his current training partner – Jonas Sultan by unanimous decision in 2018.

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