Nong-O Gaiyanghadao is not ready to hang up the gloves just yet. He might be coming off two knockout defeats in 2023 but the 37 year old still hopes to fight again in the new year.
He has made it very clear on Instagram that he plans to fix the mistakes that saw him stopped by Jonathan Haggerty and Nico Carrillo and come back stronger. In his most recent post Nong-O writes in Thai,
“That was fun. See you again.”
View this post on Instagram
Nong-O was on top of the world at the end of January. He had won his last ten fights and was the reigning ONE Championship bantamweight Muay Thai champion.
He came into the ONE Fight Night 9 title match with Haggerty in April as a firm favourite. But the Englishman upset the odds and finished Nong-O in the opening round.
Nong-O was given plenty of time to recover and did not return to the ring until last week. He faced Carrillo at ONE Friday Fights 46 but was stopped in the second round by the Scottish fighter.
In the immediate aftermath of that loss Nong-O told his Instagram followers that,
“There are no excuses but I haven’t given up yet. I will keep going.”
View this post on Instagram
Long career
Nong-O has been competing regularly in Muay Thai for nearly three decades. He has had over 300 fights and been in with some of the best fighters of the century.
Among the people offering him encouragement on Instagram are former opponents Saenchai PKSaenchaigym, Singdam Kiatmoo9 and Petchpanomrung Kiatmoo9. He clearly plans to continue working with Trainer Gae at Superbon’s new gym in Bangkok.
Nong-O caused Carrillo all sorts of problems in the opening round and looked close to finishing the fight. He landed a barrage of leg kicks forcing the Scottish fighter to switch stance.
Often when a legendary Thai fighter wants to continue competing in their late 30s they will see a big drop off in terms of the standard of their opposition. This clearly hasn’t been the case with Nong-O who is always matched with young, hungry opponents.
Haggerty became the first fighter to stop him since Saenchai in 2010. Having gone so long without a stoppage loss the fact that Nong-O has suffered two in a row must be a concern for his team.
He wants to fight on and the 37 year old is hoping he will be able to turn his career around in 2024.
