Prajanchai PKSaenchaigym is at the peak of his powers. The 26 year old claimed the Lumpinee super bantamweight belt last year and has made an unbeaten start to his boxing career, claiming a couple of regional titles.
He has won ten out of his last 13 Muay Thai fights and all three of his pro boxing bouts, beating a former world champion in one of them. Next Friday he faces Sam-A Gaiyanghadao at ONE: ‘Battleground’.
In 2015 Prajanchai fought in Japan but he has not appeared on the international stage since. He will be challenging Sam-A for his strawweight title and believes it is time for the belt to be claimed by a younger contender,
“There will be somebody who is the top fighter in each generation. (He) is the best fighter in his generation, and I am also the best in my generation.”
Big advantage
Sam-A is 11 year’s older than Prajanchai. The challenger thinks this will be a big advantage for him at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday,
“Firstly, I think I’m more likely to win because I’m younger and stronger. Secondly, I think my quickness will also help me win but most importantly, I think what I need to work on and train really hard is how to fight back his weapons and see what his weaknesses are.”
Prajanchai has spent a lot of time training and competing in boxing recently. He has already identified one area of weakness that he hopes to exploit,
“I think his weakness is his chin because he got attacked a lot on his chin before he stopped boxing for a while,” he said.
Living the dream
The 26 year old says he became so dominant as a Muay Thai fighter that it was difficult for promoters in Thailand to find him competitive fights,
“I was a Muay Thai fighter and only had a chance to fight in stadiums within the country. I would say it was quite hard to find an opponent for each bout.”
He has seen several of his compatriots enjoys success with ONE Championship and Prajanchai had been waiting a while for his time to come,
“My dream was to be part of the ONE Championship matches. Then I got to wear the little ONE Championship MMA gloves for my training and it’s been quite fun.”
Working hard
He has an opportunity to win a title in his ONE Championship debut and dethrone one of the most dominant Muay Thai fighters on the roster. Given the gap in age Prajanchai will be odds on to do just that but he is taking nothing for granted,
“I always work hard for every fight but I’ll make sure to train my hardest for this one. So, let’s see who’ll win.”
