The ONE Lumpinee 68 headliners have given their final thoughts at the pre-fight press conference on Tuesday.
ONE strawweight Muay Thai world champion Prajanchai PK Saenchai and former strawweight kickboxing king Jonathan Di Bella will duke it out for the vacant ONE strawweight kickboxing world title at the blockbuster event in Lumpinee Boxing Stadium tomorrow.
The pair were originally scheduled to face off at ONE Lumpinee 58 in April, but Di Bella fell ill on weigh-in day and was unable to step on the scales. The 27-year-old, then defending his strawweight kickboxing crown, was stripped of his title.
One of the key narratives heading into the restored match-up is the boxing skills of both men. Di Bella is undefeated as a professional boxer, while Prajanchai is a former WBA Asian champion.
As such, the PK Saenchai Muaythaigym representative indicated at the press conference that punching range is likely where the fight will be fought and won.
"I feel very honoured and happy to be fighting one of the top fighters in the world like Jonathan Di Bella, and I'm very happy and excited to face him this Friday," he said.
"Di Bella has very fast hands and very good boxing skills, especially in his combinations. I have the size disadvantage against Di Bella, so I will avoid trading, but I will try to find the opening to knock Di Bella out."
In closing, Prajanchai promised to go all-out in his quest to become a two-sport ONE world champion.
"I want to say to all my fans, especially all the Thai fans, tune in and cheer me on this Friday. I will do my best," he said.
For Di Bella, despite having watched Prajanchai's successful kickboxing debut late last year, it was boxing that was on his mind.
"I was impressed with his [kickboxing] skills. He fought a top fighter in Akram Hamidi. That was a high-level fight and he did well," Di Bella said.
"His boxing is good too. I believe he has three pro fights in boxing, and he's the WBA Asian champion so I believe it's a fair match in boxing because he has a championship in boxing.
"I think it's an even fight because he has over 400 fights," he said.