Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang is confident that he won’t be the only Team Lakay athlete to return to Baguio City victorious after ONE: REVOLUTION on Friday, September 24.
The 28-year-old expects a victory from his good friend and teammate Joshua “The Passion” Pacio, who’ll be defending his ONE Strawweight World Title against #1-ranked Yosuke “The Ninja” Saruta in the co-main event that night.
Adiwang himself is preparing for his clash against “Wolf Of The Grasslands” Hexigetu, and being a part of the same training camp as Pacio, he’s confident that his pal will retain the belt in extraordinary fashion.
“This third fight is going to be very similar to their second fight. Once Saruta makes any mistake, he’s going to sleep,” Adiwang said.
“Joshua is explosive and dangerous. He’ll end the night early if he has the chance.”
Pacio and Saruta first met in January of 2019, where “The Ninja” fought valiantly against the World Champ to came away with a split-decision win and the World Title.
Three months later they met again, but Pacio avoided the same fate and knocked Saruta out in the fourth round to reclaim his strap.
They went on separate ways thereafter. Pacio defended his strap against Rene “The Challenger” Catalan and Alex “Little Rock” Silva while Saruta edged out his compatriots in Daichi Kitakata and former World Champion Yoshitaka “Nobita” Naito to set up this trilogy bout.
While Adiwang admits that Saruta has improved since his previous matches with Pacio, he just doesn’t see the Filipino losing – especially with the level of effort "The Passion" has been putting into training over the past few months.
“Both fighters have improved since they last met each other in the Circle. I just think Joshua has improved so much more, and he’s just the better fighter,” Adiwang said.
“Joshua has improved in every area – his power, positioning, technical skills. He’s even more of a complete fighter now than last time.
“I have no doubt he’s going to retain his World Title.”
Catch ONE: REVOLUTION live on One Sports or One Sports+ beginning with the lead card at 6:30 p.m. Philippine Standard Time (PHT) on Friday, September 24.
The full event stream will also be available on ONE’s YouTube channel and the ONE Super App.