“Onto to the next one” - Jihin Radzuan, fans give Johan Ghazali props for standing up to Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat
Malaysian-American teenage phenom Johan Ghazali may have dropped his first fight in ONE Championship from Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat in their flyweight Muay Thai fight at ONE 167, but he has earned the hearts of fans because of his gallant stand against the veteran contender.
ONE Championship posted a video of Ghazali apologizing to fans for his subpar performance and vowing to improve his skills, as they captioned it with:
"Only the beginning ☝️ What's next for "Jojo?" 👀 @johanghazali_"
Fans and fellow fighters were quick to console 'Jojo', showering him with positive messages, particularly from Jihin Radzuan, @ekal_man, @neimancreed, @manekandan_nair, and @anhquatran.81.
The comments read:
"Don't be sorry Johan!! Fightgin life is full of ups and downs! Onto the next one! 🇲🇾🇲🇾🇲🇾"
"No bro...sometime we win...sometimes we learn...no losing bro...bounce back soon bro 🔥🔥🔥"
"He lost the fight but we won our heart 🔥 this dude is 17 andalready got this far, he literally marched on his opponent for whole fight, he took the hits like champ. Hopefully we got to see him with the belt one day 🔥"
"Always our champ 🔥! 🇲🇾💪🏻"
"You will be the champion one day. But today Duy Nhat did it better. Thanks both fighters for this match. 🔥❤️"
Check out more fan comments below:
Before this defeat, the 17-year-old star won his first five fights under the world's largest martial arts organization, including four TKO/KO finishes.
Johan Ghazali to learn from this experience and expected to be a better fighter moving forward
Following the loss at the hands of Nguyen, Ghazali's meteoric rise was momentarily halted, but his upside as a martial artist is still massive since he's still very young.
Knowing his hard work and dedication, fans and pundits still expect him to bounce back immediately in his successive fights, thus earning a spot in the top five rankings of the division.
North American viewers with an active Prime subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE 167 via free replay.