Chatri Sityodtong believes Johan Ghazali's loss to Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat will inspire him to achieve: "Jojo is still young"
ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong believes Johan Ghazali has plenty to gain from his first promotional defeat at ONE 167 this past Friday, June 7.
The Malaysian-American phenom, who entered his flyweight Muay Thai showdown on an undented 5-0 run, fell short in his bid to make it six in a row, as Vietnamese slugger Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat picked up one of the biggest upsets of the night inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.
Tran Duy Nhat ate some large shots inside the opening round, but he reversed the plot in the second and third frames, depending on his counter striking and movement to frustrate the 17-year-old phenom on his way to a unanimous decision win.
However, Sityodtong is sure that this defeat will only be a stepping stone to greatness for Johan Ghazali, who has been nothing short of impressive through his campaign under the ONE banner.
Speaking at the ONE 167 post-event press conference, the lifelong martial artist had this to say about Johan Ghazali:
"For Ghazali, Jojo is still young. Jojo is still 17. He has less experience. His opponent is the number one fighter from Vietnam. He's 35, and he has a lot more experience. I think that Jojo needs to gain a lot more experience in the future."
Watch the video here:
Johan Ghazali's coach confident he will bounce back from ONE 167 loss
Johan Ghazali's head coach at Rentap MuayThai Gym, Addy Sipangyak, shares a similar sentiment as the ONE Championship Chairman and CEO.
To him, what's important now is for his star student to dig deep, understand his shortcomings, and find ways to improve his overall performance for his next outing in ONE.
Speaking to Kosmo yesterday, the Thai coach noted:
"After this fight, we will rest for seven days. After that, we will go back to practice and fix every weaknesses that we discover from this fight before the next upcoming fight."
North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can relive the entire ONE 167 card via replay for free.