When former ONE Strawweight World Champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio shares the ring with Yosuke “The Ninja” Saruta again, he vows to leave no stone unturned in his quest to lift the belt from his rival.
The Baguio City native will tangle with the Japanese titleholder in the co-main event of ONE: ROOTS OF HONOR on Friday, 12 April, and he vows to leave the Mall Of Asia Arena in Manila with the World Title.
For that to happen, Pacio knows he has to be more aggressive than what he showed in their initial encounter three months ago.
“I watched our first fight over and over again. I was clearly hesitant with my combination. I kept backing up, and that’s the reason why I did not get any momentum,” he said.
“Now the plan is to be committed with my attack. Last time, I was caught off guard and I wasn’t able to throw what I wanted to. Now, I will stick with our game plan.”
Pacio's head coach, Mark Sangiao, agrees with his star pupil’s sentiments.
Sangiao believes that it’s all a matter of tweaking the young athlete’s mindset.
“That’s what I’ve been saying, he lacked the confidence in the first fight,” the soft-spoken mentor explained.
“He was always backpedaling. He was hesitant with what he wanted to throw, and that’s why he struggled.
“Now I believe Joshua is confident enough to bounce back and show what he can really do.”
Currently owning a professional record of 13-3, “The Passion" knows reclaiming the ONE Strawweight World Championship will not be easy.
However, with redemption just a couple of days away, the 23-year-old looks to maximize every opening that will be created for him on Friday.
“If there’s an opportunity for a knockout, I’ll go for it,” Pacio said.
“But based on experience, you can’t look too much for a knockout cause usually it turns out the other way around.”