Team Lakay did not have an ideal start to 2019, but head coach Mark Sangiao is not about to lose faith in his athletes.
In fact, Sangiao is confident his team will reclaim one of the four World Titles they recently lost next weekend.
Joshua “The Passion” Pacio will challenge reigning ONE Strawweight World Champion Yosuke “The Ninja” Saruta for the gold in the co-main event of ONE: ROOTS OF HONOR, which broadcasts live from the Mall Of Asia Arena in Manila on Friday, 12 April.
The 39-year-old mentor is full of confidence that Pacio, the first among their four World Champions to lose their belts, will be the first one to bounce back.
“It’s difficult and heartbreaking for me to see an athlete like Joshua lose, especially after he worked really, really hard for it,” said Sangiao. “But like we always say, we either win or we learn.”
Their initial meeting at ONE: ETERNAL GLORYplayed out as advertised.
It was an all-out war between the two lightning-quick strawweights as they thrilled the fans in Jakarta, Indonesia last January with a barnburner.
Saruta, the challenger, pushed the action on the feet. He moved forward when given the chance and tried to outwork the Filipino.
The younger Pacio, on the other hand, showed great composure in staying in the pocket. He patiently waited for the Japanese competitor to make a mistake as he landed counter after counter.
In the end, Saruta was more aggressive and, as a result, he emerged victorious via split decision.
“Let’s admit it, Joshua struggled against Saruta. His true form did not show in the match,” the coach said.
“That’s one of the things that we need to work on during training — we need to come up with a much better game plan next time.
“Joshua has a huge chance [to win], as long as he’s able to impose his game plan in the match.”