Joven Jimenez offers to step down as Jerwin Ancajas' coach following loss to Inoue

They have been together through the lowest of lows and the highest of highs, but Jerwin Ancajas' manager and trainer Joven Jimenez believes that it might be time to step down as the former's trainer.

Following Ancajas' loss to WBA world bantamweight champion Takuma Inoue this past weekend in Japan, the fighter-trainer duo shared an emotional moment in the locker room where Jimenez floated the idea of hiring a new boxing coach.

"We have to make a change. We have to talk about it, When you lost to Martinez, you were drinking and your attitude changed. I do not want to leave you but we must talk about this for your boxing career," Jimenez said in Tagalog.

"Let us try someone to handle you, another trainer. I can even be a masseur that is not a problem, I will still be with you. I will just keep you from drinking and having vices."

Ancajas, 34-4-2 with 23 knockouts as a boxer, made nine defenses of his former IBF world super flyweight title before suffering back-to-back defeats against Fernando Martinez in 2022.

In a previous interview, Ancajas conceded he had outgrown the 115-pound division and it was time to move up in weight. He fought in a stay-busy bout last June at super bantamweight before challenging Inoue for the world title.

With Ancajas losing three of his last four fights, Jimenez is convinced that his methods are simply not working anymore for his fighter.

"What is happening now is different. We need someone else now, Freddie Roach or whoever else. You have to think of your children. We won before and we were happy, now this is what we get. You took the place of a lot of boxers. Now we feel what they went through, those who retired from boxing because of you. But you have to hold your head up," Jimenez stressed.

"I think my teachings are no longer working so I cannot say that I am really good because my methods [no longer work]. It is different now for how many fights."

—JMB, GMA Integrated News