“He wasn’t a pushover” - Jonathan Haggerty recalls first fight above flyweight class against “dangerous” Vladimir Kuzmin
Two-sport ONE world champion Jonathan Haggerty knew he was in a tough test back when he moved up a weight class in a battle against Russian standout Vladimir Kuzmin.
After making a name for himself at flyweight, capturing the division's top prize, and going toe-to-toe with Rodtang in a pair of instant classics, 'The General' moved up to bantamweight for a clash with Kuzmin at ONE on Prime Video 4.
Looking back on their epic encounter, Haggerty knew going into the contest that Kuzmin would pose a very real threat and refused to treat the Russian striker like a stepping stone:
"He was a dangerous opponent, going into this fight, he recently fought someone from the UK, actually from Scotland, Chris Shaw, and Muangthai, who's like, ranked number four now, and he beat him," Haggerty said in a career retrospective via his YouTube channel.
"We knew he wasn't a pushover, so we came well-prepared. So this fight was basically like a kickboxing fight again, more bouncing, not really a lot of Thai boxing going on here."
See the full video below:
Superlek looks to steal Jonathan Haggerty's status as a two-sport ONE world champion
Since his victory over Kuzmin, Jonathan Haggerty has landed a trio of highlight-reel knockouts against Nong-O Hama, Fabricio Andrade, and Felipe Lobo. Along the way, 'The General' captured both the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai and kickboxing world championships.
Now, the two-sport king will put his bantamweight Muay Thai title on the line when he steps into the main event spotlight at ONE 168: Denver.
Emanating from Ball Arena in 'The Mile High City' on Friday, September 6, Jonathan Haggerty will square off against 'The Kicking Machine' and reigning ONE flyweight kickboxing world titleholder Superlek Kiatmoo9.
Will Haggerty keep his six-fight unbeaten streak live, or will Superlek bring a second belt back to Thailand and become ONE's latest two-sport world champion?
Follow this link for tickets for ONE 168: Denver on September 6 at Ball Arena.