Nico Carrillo learned from Jonathan Haggerty's mistakes against Superlek: "I'm not going to start fast"
Nico Carrillo does not plan to go zero to hundred in the blink of an eye in his world title fight against two-sport ONE world champion Superlek Kiatmoo9, especially after seeing Jonathan Haggerty pay a hefty price for his mistake at ONE 168: Denver.
'King of the North' — who occupies the No.2-ranked spot in the division — finally gets his crack at the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion against titleholder Superlek.
Their scheduled five-round war will be one of three world title contests at ONE 170 inside the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, on January 24.
The divisional king secured his spot atop the throne with a jaw-dropping knockout of Haggerty inside the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, this past September.
While the finishing move was nothing out of the ordinary, 'The General's' forward momentum and eagerness to go in for the kill effectively doubled the impact of Superlek's elbow that sent him packing at the 49-second mark.
As such, putting two and two together, the Dechkalek Muay Thai Academy star vows to take things slowly to assess the situation before he makes his move against someone as dangerous as Superlek.
Speaking on the Leather'd Podcast, Nico Carrillo shared:
"Let's say I go, and I'm going I fight I Superlek, I'm not going to rush in the first round. It will be quite a cagey first round I suspect, unless I do catch him, and then again, what I say is confidence comes from I know that no one I've ever [fought can continue after they're hurt]. So it's the same thing. But yeah, I'm not going to start fast with Superlek."
Watch the full interview here:
Nico Carrillo's reach and knockout power will spell danger for Superlek
Superlek doesn't look like slowing down anytime soon. The two-division, two-sport world champion has barely struggled against anyone so far as he continues to up his game to unprecedented heights.
But that could change against someone of Nico Carrillo's size and power.
'King of the North' exudes perfection when he fights from the outside, and he rarely rushes in just for the sake of scoring points.
Instead, the Scottish star always takes a step forward in a calculated manner before he starts slamming in the vicious combinations that have helped him wrap up all his fights on the global stage inside the distance.