Teenage rising star Johan Ghazali believes Black Panther can give kickboxing legend Takeru Segawa a good run for his money when they clash at ONE Friday Fights 81.
While many believe that Black Panther might not be on the same level as Takeru, ‘Jojo’ doesn’t want to count him out. Make no mistake, the Thai scrapper has more lives than a cat when he’s locked inside the circle wall. Black Panther can endure a lot of damage while pushing the pace with his striking at the same time.
However, it doesn’t change the fact that this fight comes as a shocking surprise since we all know that Takeru was meant for Rodtang Jitmuangnon.
Speaking to the South China Morning Post on the matter, Johan Ghazali said:
“That was unexpected. I thought he was going to fight Rodtang sooner. But I think they are building that up. It’s still a hard fight, Black Panther is pretty good too. It’s a good fight.”
‘Jojo’ Ghazali also hopes to take a stab at Takeru when the time comes. But right now, he is in no rush to challenge some of the elite just yet.
‘Jojo’ said he would prefer to build his skills with a variety of different opponents before getting his dream match with some of ONE Championship’s biggest stars.
ONE Friday FIghts 81 will air live via Asian Primetime via PPV at watch.onefc.com
Johan Ghazali reflects upon recent decision loss to Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat at ONE 167
After winning most of his Muay Thai fights by knockout, Johan Ghazali faced adversity like never before when he collided against Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat this past June.
Ghazali received a lot of recognition for his exciting fighting style which he is often likened to Rodtang Jitmuangnon. He hopes to display that same ferocity he once showed in his upcoming flyweight Muay Thai bout against Josue Cruz at ONE 168: Denver.
Recalling the lessons he learned against Nguyen, Ghazali is grateful to have experienced his firsthand adversity while he’s still making his way up the ladder.
In the same interview, he said:
“Everything that’s worthwhile be hard, so you know, if it was easy, everyone would do it. So, you know I’ve lost before. I’m no stranger to losing, you know. I learned more in that fight than the past five wins.”
