Teenage Muay Thai phenom Johan Ghazali’s raw talent has made him a star in ONE Championship. But in order to reach the next level, he’s recently been resculpted by ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Champion Superbon.
“Jojo” is eager to show those improvements against American slugger Diego Paez at ONE Fight Night 32. They meet in flyweight Muay Thai this Friday, 6 June, at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Ghazali stormed his way to a US$100,000 contract with ONE after three knockouts in four fights in the Friday Fights series. His talents saw him quickly capture the hearts of fans around the world and become a Muay Thai sensation.
However, he ate humble pie from veteran Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat last June at ONE 167, suffering a unanimous decision defeat.
He bounced back in style in September to defeat Josue Cruz in the first round. But Ghazali knew he had to do more.
That’s when he decided to take his talents to Superbon Training Camp. He didn’t want to just learn under the tutelage of Superbon. He wanted to reach the peak of his abilities and become a World Champion.
“I wanna say a lot is different, but there are some things that have changed since the last fight camp,” he said.
“I know that Superbon really wants me to win because he’s been training me hard. So, yeah, I’m ready. I can fight tomorrow.”
His first clash under Superbon’s tutelage came at ONE 170 this past January. The Malaysian-American battled #5-ranked flyweight Muay Thai star Johan Estupinan at Bangkok, Thailand’s Impact Arena.
Ghazali did come up short against the undefeated Colombian talent by unanimous decision. But glimpses of his true capabilities did come to light. He was much more composed and his combinations had better timing.
But with much more time to study under the kickboxing great, Ghazali believes ONE Fight Night 32 will be a much different story.
“[Against Estupinan] there were bits and pieces of Superbon, Nong-O, and Petchtanong’s game all in there. And that was me only in a two-month camp. It was short, and I had to rush through the lessons at the gym,” he said.
“But, for this fight, you’ll see a much better version of that, just much more advanced in this next fight.”
