Johnathan Haggerty’s High stakes Title match against Phenom Wei Rui
Current ONE bantamweight kickboxing champion Johnathan Haggerty is slated to face Chinese kickboxing phenom Wei Rui at ONE 171. This is a tall order, where the Haggerty’s stakes are just as high as ever. Johnathan Haggerty is coming off a brutal loss to ONE flyweight kickboxing champion Superlek in a fight where “The General” lost his bantamweight Muay Thai title.
Since winning the ONE bantamweight kickboxing world championship against Fabrício Andrade in late 2023, Haggerty has not defended the belt. His opponent is the Chinese kickboxing phenom Wei, a fighter who has won many world titles, including the prestigious K-1 World Grand Prix and becoming a K-1 champion in their lightweight division, or 62.5 KG division.
Wei is a decorated kickboxer and defeated former ONE bantamweight kickboxing champion Hiroki Akimoto with relative ease in his previous debut bout in ONE Championship, evading his defense and outscoring the former champion.
Haggerty is now stuck between a rock and a hard place as the former two-sport world champion lost his muay Thai title to a generational great in Superlek. Now, due to his inactivity in kickboxing, being forced to defend his kickboxing title against a fighter who conquered the highest level of kickboxing in Japan and China.
On top of that, with Haggerty also having a severe experience disadvantage in kickboxing, Haggerty has quite the uphill battle to climb in this fight.
Johnathan Haggerty looks to defy the odds against Wei Rui.
This is not the first time that “The General” has faced an uphill battle where he is expected to lose, he managed to defy the odds against monstrous low kicker in Nong-O Hama. He will be looking to do the same against the defensive master and tricky southpaw in Wei Rui. But no matter the odds Haggerty will continue to live by that “anyone, anywhere” attitude that has helped propel British Muay Thai to heights it hasn’t seen in decades.
