Oakland Presser: Ancajas + Uzacategui Ready for Oracle Arena Fight Night
Ancajas (30-1-1, 20 KOs), the longest-reigning 115-pound world champion, will make the sixth defense of his title against Santiago (16-2-4, 7 KOs) on Friday at Oakland’s Oracle Arena (home of the Golden State Warriors) in the co-main event. In the main event, IBF super middleweight champion Jose Uzcategui (27-2, 23 KOs) will face Ezequiel Maderna (26-4, 16 KOs) in a 10-round non-title bout contested in the light heavyweight division.
Ancajas-Santiago and Uzcategui-Maderna will stream beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+ — the new multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer & International segment in conjunction with ESPN.
The entire undercard will be broadcast on ESPN+ at 7:30 p.m. ET and includes Filipino featherweight contender Genesis Servania (31-1, 14 KOs) against Carlos Carlson (22-4, 13 KOs) and Joshua Greer Jr. (17-1-1, 9 KOs) versus Giovanni Delgado (16-7, 9 KOs) in a super bantamweight bout.
Here is what the fighters had to say.
“Since the beginning of my career, I have never underestimated anybody. I know that this is a great opportunity for Maderna. I know that he’s very hungry. He knows the opportunity that he has in front of him. I am going to try and put on a great performance for everybody.”
On fighting Gilberto Ramirez, Jesse Hart, mandatory challenger Caleb Plant, and his status in the 168-pound division
“I know that I’m in a tough division, but I believe I am the best in the division. I don’t see anybody coming and beating me.”
On his last fought against Jonas Sultan
“The last fight, we weren’t that impressive. This time, we trained hard and long. We did things that we didn’t do before, and we’ll try our best to come up with a better performance this time.”
“This means a lot to me. I turned pro eight years ago. I’ve been training really hard for this fight. I am going to do my best to take this title with us.”
“I feel very comfortable. I don’t feel any pressure. If you look at my record, I’ve fought plenty of guys in their backyards. I prepare myself for 12 rounds. I won’t go in there looking for the knockout. I’m going to go in there and try and win the rounds.”
On his 2017 loss to Oscar Valdez
“Since the Valdez fight, I’ve improved a lot. Valdez is very good, and I want to put on a good fight again.”
On entertaining the Filipino fans in the Bay Area and a potential Valdez rematch
“I had a very hard training camp in Japan, and I look forward to entertaining the fans. If I get a chance to fight Oscar Valdez again, I’d love to have that opportunity.”
Joshua Greer Jr.
On the custom pillows he brings in the ring
“I had a fight in Detroit {in March 2017}. I fought a guy named James Gordon Smith. He was very disrespectful. Him, his matchmakers, his whole team was very disrespectful to me. So I said I’m going to get under their skin. I brought the pillow to the weigh-in and everybody started laughing, so I knew I got in his head. Come fight night, I caught him with a good shot, knocked him out, and the whole city of Detroit was mad. They were like, ‘Oh, he’s so disrespectful,’ but at the end of the day, I started with that. It keeps me working hard because I want to keep bringing the pillow out, keep performing, and keep doing what I’m doing with great knockouts.”
Jose Uzcategui vs. Ezequiel Maderna, 10 rounds, light heavyweight
Jerwin Ancajas (champion) vs. Alejandro Santiago (challenger), 12 rounds, IBF junior bantamweight title
ESPN+, 7:30 p.m. ET
Genesis Servania vs. Carlos Carlson, 10/8 rounds, featherweight
Joshua Greer Jr. vs. Giovanni Delgado, 10/8 rounds, super bantamweight
Rico Ramos vs. Daniel Olea, 8 rounds, featherweight
Askhat Ualikhanov vs. Angel Hernandez, 8/6 rounds, super lightweight
Janibek Alimkhanuly vs. Carlos Galvan, 8/6 rounds, super middleweight
Christopher Zavala vs. Dominic Blanco, 4 rounds, super featherweight
Derry Noble vs. Edson Noria, 4 rounds, bantamweight
Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Zanfer Promotions, Joven Sports and MP Promotions, tickets for this all-action card are on sale now. Priced at $105, $78.75, $52.50, and $26.25, including facility fees, tickets can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com or at the Oracle Arena box office. The Oracle Arena box office is open Monday-Friday from 12-5 p.m.
