Superlek Kiatmoo9 does not appear to follow Takeru on Instagram. If he did the reigning ONE Championship flyweight kickboxing champion would see that the Japanese star has been practising his spinning back kicks.
Takeru and Superlek face off in the main event of ONE 165. The Thai might be the champion but it is the Japanese fighter who has more kickboxing experience.
It is Takeru’s sport and he has clearly been working on some strikes that are more commonly seen in kickboxing than Muay Thai:
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Legendary kickboxers
Superlek had originally been preparing to face Elias Mahmoudi at ONE Fight Night 18. Instead he finds himself taking on one of the best kickboxers in the world.
The Thai was already preparing for a fight, so he will have been in top shape when he got the call to replace Rodtang. But instead of fighting in his homeland he will be travelling to Japan to take on the country’s top kickboxer at ONE 165.
Takeru has enlisted the help of some legendary Japanese kickboxers. Three time K-1 Max winner Masato stopped by the gym earlier this week:
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Long wait
Takeru has already spent time training at the Superbon Gym in Bangkok where he sparred with Nong-O Gaiyanghadao. Superlek will surely have taken some tips from the former ONE Championship bantamweight Muay Thai champion.
Having signed with ONE Championship at the start of 2023 he has had to wait a long time to make his debut. Takeru has clearly been training very hard and looks to have been in fight camp for the past six weeks.
Prior to that he was in the US training at Fight Ready. Takeru is clearly taking his ONE Championship debut fight very seriously and he might just have a few surprises in store for Superlek.
