Team Lakay coach Mark Sangiao doesn’t have to worry about a potential clash between ONE Strawweight World Champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio and Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang.
The pair of strawweights were victorious at ONE: REVOLUTION on September 24, with Pacio finishing Yosuke “The Ninja” Saruta in just one round and Adiwang dominating “Wolf Of The Grasslands” Hexigetu in another impressive performance.
Talks of a potential clash between the teammates and good friends surfaced once more, but Sangiao was delighted to discover that his students value their kinship more than any World Title.
“I thought it was nice that they already cleared that up during interviews,” Sangiao said.
“You know what Joshua said, blood is thicker than water. Lito said he’s not in a rush (for a World Title shot), as he treats Joshua as his younger brother – and it’s beautiful.
“That’s what makes this team special, brotherhood. A brother will always be a brother.”
While Sangiao respected their opponents, he was confident with the way the two had prepared for their matches that they’d get the wins.
“I thought Joshua was truly motivated. He was really fired up during training, during those two months of hard preparation, and the same with Lito,” Sangiao said.
“We’ve seen how they improved during training sessions and how they were both willing to learn, always trying to improve their weaknesses.”
That said, Sangiao now has two names for his top two fighters to contend with if they want to keep a stronghold on the strawweight division.
“If I’m to choose, I hope Joshua finishes the trilogy with Naito, and I want to see Lito take on Jarred Brooks because that didn’t push through in the past,” he said.