Fabricio Andrade has watched Jonathan Haggerty’s knockout loss to Rodtang Jitmuangon. It has clearly made the Brazilian feel very confident as he prepares to face him in a kickboxing title fight this weekend.
Haggerty and Andrade will fight for the vacant bantamweight kickboxing belt. Having seen his opponent get knocked out by a flyweight the Brazilian is very confident he will be able to hurt him on Saturday,
“He was knocked out by Rodtang in a division below. I believe that I have much more punching power than the guys in the lower division so Haggerty will really feel the power of my punches.”
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Track record
Andrade has clearly seen something he likes in Haggerty’s previous fights. The Brazilian has a good track record when it comes to finishing opponents with strikes both in kickboxing and MMA.
It is very difficult to compare Haggerty with fighters like John Lineker and Kwon Won Il because they have been competing in totally different sports. But Andrade believes his power will translate effectively into kickboxing,
“I will definitely be a big threat to him. I have a lot of power in my blows, and you could see in previous fights that Haggerty can’t take blows from fighters who have a lot of power very well.”
Inspiration and motivation
It is clear that Andrade is taking both inspiration and motivation from Rodtang. He finished Haggerty in the second round at ONE: ‘A New Tomorrow’ and says it was clear from that fight that the Englishman can’t take a punch,
“This was clear against Rodtang where he was unable to find his footing in the fight. I believe that with me he will have the same problem.”
This fight is unusual because both men are reigning ONE Championship title holders in this weight class but neither will be putting their belt on the line. Haggerty holds the Muay Thai belt while Haggerty wears the Muay Thai crown.
Kickboxing is a lot closer to Muay Thai than MMA and Haggerty could be seen as a favourite because of this. But Andrade actually has more experience in the sport than his opponent.
He was competing regularly in China under kickboxing rules before moving to Thailand to focus on his MMA career. Andrade thinks this experience will give him an advantage over an opponent who has been a Muay Thai fighter,
“I’m more used to the rules of kickboxing. I haven’t been fighting kickboxing for a long time but I
have been training it constantly so I will have an advantage because of that.”
