KEY POINTS

  • Kickboxing icons Giorgio Petrosyan and Superbon Banchamek will headline ONE: First Strike
  • Superbon shares Petrosyan once turned down a fight against him
  • Petrosyan looks to improve his legacy by winning the ONE featherweight kickboxing title

The main event of ONE: First Strike will feature two of kickboxing’s most prolific fighters in Thailand’s Superbon Banchamek and Italy’s Giorgio Petrosyan fighting for the promotion’s featherweight kickboxing title.

The Thai superstar revealed that the two were scheduled to fight each other prior to ONE: First Strike.

“Early this year, I got a call from ONE Championship offering me a fight. It was a match with [Giorgio] Petrosyan. A week later, my manager told me that [Giorgio] Petrosyan didn’t want to fight me. He decided to fight someone else,” Superbon mentioned.

“What I want to know is, who’s the matchmaker here? [Giorgio] Petrosyan or ONE Championship?”

Petrosyan responded to Superbon’s claims in the same video.

“I turned down the fight because it didn’t fit my schedule. If I was scared of him, I wouldn’t have accepted this fight,” an incensed Petrosyan said.

Widely considered as the “Michael Jordan of kickboxing,” Petrosyan has amassed 104 wins across the world’s top kickboxing promotions and will look to continue his reign of supremacy against Superbon.

The Italian kickboxing legend started his journey with ONE Championship by defeating Jo Nattawut in April 2018 and culminated with a win over France’s Samy Sana in the ONE Kickboxing Featherweight World Grand Prix finals in October 2019.

As for Superbon, the top-tier Thai kickboxer can also be considered at par with Petrosyan after defeating fellow legend Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong for the second time at ONE: No Surrender.

Both men are highly-accomplished fighters, capable of quick strikes in high volume and great knockout power when they find the opening.

Superbon is aware of the caliber of kickboxer that he will be facing, but he remains unfazed.

“[Giorgio] Petrosyan is a skillful boxer, good with his hands, but I know I’m a bad matchup for him. He hasn’t got anything that worries me,” proclaimed Superbon.

“His punches aren’t very strong. I have better technique, and I’m faster.”

Petrosyan confirmed Superbon’s claims of him being a skillful boxer.

“I have better boxing skills. I just need to go out there and show him [Superbon],” remarked the kickboxing icon.

ONE: First Strike will be streaming live on the official ONE Super App and the official ONE YouTube channel in Asia on October 15 at 8:30 PM Singapore Standard Time (SGT).

Meanwhile, the American audience can catch the fights on B/R Live on October 15 at 8:30 AM ET.

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