Jarred Brooks has shaken up the strawweight division. The American stormed into the #3 spot in the division after beating Lito Adiwang on his promotional debut.
He takes on Hiroba Minowa at ONE: ‘Only the Brave’ on Friday. Brooks has been very vocal about wanting a title shot and doesn’t think the Japanese fighter will be able to stand in his way,
“That young kid won’t get tired in my opinion (but) I think that he’s just going to get pounded on. He’s just going to get big brothered in there. That’s how I look at it. He’s a young kid. I got to give him some butt spankings,” he said.
Running circles
The buildup to Brook’s fights has been as entertaining as the action inside the cage. He engaged in a war of words with Team Lakay in the buildup to his last bout and thinks he can run circles around them in a war of words,
“It’s going to be fun too because you can see me just talk circles around these guys and then fight circles around them too,” he said.
While he is confident of beating Minowa it doesn’t sound like Brooks is overlooking the Japanese fighter,
“”Everybody looks over Hiroba, man. Hiroba is a tough, tough, tough kid. I am not going to sit here and say that I’m just going to run past him and, ‘What’s up, Josh (Pacio,) we’re gonna get it,’ you know,” he said.
Dangerous opponents
Brooks hasn’t been shy about calling out Joshua Pacio but he believes there are dangerous opponent elsewhere at strawweight,
“I think that Hiroba is probably the best in the division besides Bokang (Masunyane). So yeah, I’m more focused on him right now than Joshua. But yeah, Josh, of course, I am coming for you,” he said.
However he isn’t promising a fast finish. Brooks knows the contest next Friday could well go the distance,
“Every fighter wants to knock that guy out and get them out in the first round, in the first 30 seconds. That’s cool. I mean, I would really, really enjoy doing that. But there’s 15 minutes, so you’ve got to play with what time can give you, or what your opponent can give you,” he said.
But while Brooks acknowledges that Minowa is strong he knows that he is stronger,
“I think he might be strong, but he hasn’t felt anybody as strong and as fast as me at my weight. I think he has his hands full. He’s going to have a tough time.”
