Takeru has spent the last nine weeks in Los Angeles training for his long awaited ONE Championship debut. We still don’t know the date or opponent but Chatri Sityodtong has dropped a big clue about the former.
He announced yesterday that ONE 165 is going to take place in Tokyo. Takeru must surely be penciled in for what will be the promotion’s first event in Japan since 2019.
Chatri also confirmed that ONE 166 would be in Qatar on March 1st. That means the Tokyo card must be taking place in either January or February.
Last week Takeru shared a photo of him hitting pads at Boxing Works in Los Angeles along with a caption that can be translated as,
“I can’t wait for the fight.”
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Long wait
Takeru has had to do a bit of waiting since signing with ONE Championship in April. Chatri announced that he wanted to match the Japanese star with Rodtang in Tokyo but it isn’t clear if that is the fight which is currently being worked on.
Yesterday Chatri told fans to,
“Stay tuned also for some huge fight news imminently for ONE 165 in Japan.”
If that event is set to take place in early 2024 then fights should be announced any day now, although we don’t have an official date or venue yet.
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Well prepared
Takeru definitely looks like a man who is training for a fight. He has been based at Boxing Works for several weeks by the looks of things, it is the gym which ONE Championship stars Janet Todd and Jackie Buntan fight out of.
Rodtang would clearly be a popular choice of opponent. Chatri has already stated that he wants to make that fight although the ONE Championship head honcho subsequently backtracked slightly and mentioned that it would be difficult to do.
Superlek beat Rodtang last time out and could have moved into pole position for a shot at Takeru. Jonathan Haggerty clearly put himself in the mix by capturing the ONE Championship bantamweight title recently, although he competes at a higher weight than the two Thai fighters.
Whoever Takeru faces on his ONE Championship debut the Japanese star will clearly be well prepared. He flew into Bangkok to watch Superlek beat Rodtang and was working out at some gyms there, he also appears to be training very hard in Los Angeles and fans will be excited to discover the identity of his next opponent.
