No Easy Fights – Masaaki Noiri Takes On Tawanchai At ONE 172
The former two-division K-1 Champion Masaaki Noiri is set to face off against the current ONE featherweight Muay Thai champion Tawanchai at ONE 172. Both fighters coming off brutal knockouts wins at ONE 170. Masaaki Noiri destroyed Shakir Al-Tekreeti’s leg with vicious low kicks. Later on, on the same card, Tawanchai would put the former kickboxing champion Superbon to sleep with his newly developed boxing skills.
Noiri is getting his first win in ONE Championship in his last outing as he holds a record of 1-2 in the promotion; however, this is due to taking quite hard fights in the promotion from the start. Taking on generational great in Sitthichai in a losing effort and then losing to Chinese fighter Liu Mengyang.
With Noiri back in form after his horrific knockout of Shakir Al-Tekreeti, he is looking to jump right back into the fray by taking on the fast and powerful Muay Thai champion Tawanchai.
Tawanchai is now on the winning end of two rivalries, having razor-close fights with Jo Nattwaut in both Muay Thai and kickboxing. Many believed that Superbon would beat Tawanchia in the rematch because Superbon defeated Jo Nattawut with relative ease. Compared to Tawanchai, who struggled heavily against the Thai veteran,
The young star would prove that Muay Thai math is just as ineffective as MMA math. Their first bout may have been a close, fair affair, but Tawanchai would brutalize Superbon with his new boxing skills, flattening the current featherweight champion in a sided manner.
With the Thai striker’s much-improved boxing and growing maturity in both sports, it’s hard to bet against him especially since he is currently on a nine-fight win streak in ONE Championship.
Masaaki Noiri only wants to fight the best against Tawanchai.
Many K-1 fighters have struggled in their transition to ONE Championship. However, the K-1 Kickboxers are not alone in that regard. Many stadium fighters, many of whom were stadium champions, have tried and failed in ONE Championship’s high-octane 4 oz glove take on Muay Thai.
However, the k-1 fighter’s struggles come from a desire to face the best possible fighters in ONE and try to fight for the kickboxing world title, which offers a big paycheck and the most significant name recognition in the entire sport. However, this leads to the most K-1 fighters taking the most difficult match-up possible in their debut fights.
Takeru faced Superlek in his very first fight with the promotion, and KANA will face one of the best female fighters ever in kickboxing, Anissa Meksen. Noiri faced a generational great two-sport champion, Sittichai. It’s safe to say that kickboxers from Japan are not afraid of taking a hard fight.
That’s a good thing for us fans, as the bemoaned boxing method of fighters taking many tune-up fights and big fights taking far too long to actually take place is hardly a thing in the sport of kickboxing and Muay Thai, as in this world, the best fight the best, and they do it quite often.
Because of the martial arts spirit most present in kickboxing and Muay Thai, we will see the best of K-1 in Masaaki Noiri face the best of ONE Championship in Tawanchai.
