Jonathan Haggerty sure Superlek is not taking him lightly: “It'd be silly to”
ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Jonathan Haggerty says upcoming opponent Superlek Kiatmoo9 should know better than underestimating him lest he find himself on the raw end of a telling defeat like the Brit's previous foes.
Haggerty will defend his Muay Thai gold at ONE 168 in Denver, Colorado, on Sept. 6 against 'The Kicking Machine' in the headling contest of the event happening at the Ball Arena in the 'Mile High City'.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Jonathan Haggerty cautioned Superlek not to take him lightly like some of his previous opponents dared to do for it would spell disaster for him.
'The General' said:
"I really think Superlek's not underestimating me. It's be silly to. People have done that before, and look what happened."
See the full interview below:
Jonathan Haggerty has won his last six matches heading into ONE 168, the most recent back in February when he successfully defended the bantamweight Muay Thai world title with a third-round TKO of Brazilian challenger Felipe Lobo.
Prior to it in November last year, he added the vacant ONE bantamweight kickboxing gold to become a two-sport world champion.
Meanwhile, Superlek seeks to realize his own goal of becoming a double ONE world champion by adding Haggerty's bantamweight Muay Thai world title to the flyweight kickboxing belt already in his possesion in their Denver super fight.
ONE 168: Denver will air live and for free in U.S. primetime to North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription. Tickets to the event are available for purchase on Ticketmaster.
Jonathan Haggerty already acclimatized with conditions in Denver for ONE 168
Jonathan Haggerty said he and his team are already acclimatized with the conditions in Denver, Colorado, ahead of his title defense against Superlek Kiatmoo9 at ONE 168 on Sept. 6 and cannot wait to plunge into action.
The 27-year-old Orpington, England native made this assurance in the same interview, emphasizing that they have transitioned well since taking their camp Stateside from Thailand and are confident of the progressed they have made.
He said:
"Yeah, we are ready now. We're all settled in. We've been here for three and a half weeks, four weeks. We're acclimatized. If we're not ready now, we'll never be ready. So we're feeling confident. I say we, me and [coach] Chris [Knowles], we put in 100% in this fight camp, time and effort. So that's why I'm saying we're so ready."
Apart from retaining the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai gold, Haggerty is also out to exact payback on Superlek, who he lost to back in 2018 before they became part of ONE Championship.