ONE Championship is pulling out all the stops for their historic ONE 170 card, held at the iconic Lumpinee Stadium this January. Included in this sensational event for Muay Thai is an electric Muay Bouk clash between Seksan and Soe Lin Oo and an exhilarating battle between Nabil Anane and the towering Scotsman, Nico Carillo, for the Interim Bantamweight Muay Thai crown.
However, the main event on this card is the most eagerly awaited; the highly anticipated rematch between the reigning Featherweight Muay Thai World Champion Tawanchai PKSaenchaigym, and Kickboxing World Champion, Superbon. This fight is a run-back of their sensational 2023 bout on Friday Fights 46 where the reigning champion, Tawanchai, out-kicked the challenger in a five-round spectacle that was as much a battle of wits as it was of physical skill.
In this article we are going to look back at the last time these two champions faced, explaining the flow and progression of the fight before looking ahead to their most recent bouts, facing veteran Muay Mat, Jo Nattawut, to help us speculate on how this long-awaited rematch may play out.
The First Clash
The first bout in December 2023, was a clash of elite Muay Thai IQ. Usually, when two experienced Thai veterans of opposing stances meet, the fight quickly evolves into a battle of left vs right kick supremacy but the southpaw champion, Tawanchai was quickly able to establish control over range with teeps and Muay Thai sidekicks, negating Superbon’s ability to press forward and attack with his dominant side.
Instead of kicking, Superbon tried to lure the champion onto the front foot and attempted to counter Tawanchai’s body kick with powerful hooks. He had moments of success here, but Tawanchai soon adapted and would either cover up and retreat from the punch or close distance and tie Superbon’s arms up in the clinch.
Having been more active in the world of kickboxing in the leadup to this battle, Superbon’s clinch reactions were a little slow and Tawanchai was able to find a home for several of his elbows. This put him inches ahead of his opponent at all ranges and thus, he secured a hard-fought but unanimous win to reclaim his Featherweight strap.
What Has Happened Since
Both fighters have been fairly inactive on the ONE Championship roster throughout 2024. Tawanchai has only fought once this year, against Thai compatriot, the hard-hitting Jo Nattawut. Superbon has fought twice. Once to defend his Kickboxing title against Marat Grigorian, where he covered up behind the padding of his gloves and smothered the Armenian’s punches in order to land powerful knees, and once in Muay Thai where he also faced Nattawut under Muay Thai rules, ending the fight with an elbow within the first round. This gives us only a glimpse at how both men have developed since their first fight.
Nattawut was able to take Superbon’s gameplan, countering Tawanchai’s left kicks with hands and improving upon it, wearing the champion’s dreaded kick and then unloading punches in combinations with far more success.
Forcing the southpaw Tawanchai backward made it harder for the champion to fire off his left kick and punching in bunches meant that he had a much harder time defending. It was a gameplan that looked likely to succeed until, in the fourth round, Tawanchai broke from his iconic kicking style and began to press forward, pushing the challenger back with greater success to capture a narrow, majority points victory.
Superbon’s successful game plan against Grigorian isn’t something that could easily be replicated under Thai rules. The ability to elbow and clinch, combined with the absence of padded gloves to use for defense would make the approach incredibly risky at best.
Even though Superbon’s fight against Nattawut ended in brutal fashion within the first round, when he landed a savage elbow, it does give us a glimpse into the challenger’s development since his unsuccessful bid for the title late last year. He landed three elbows within the first round, each time as he was stepping forward to crowd Nattawut while he unloaded punches. Considering he seemed, slightly unprepared for Tawanchai’s elbows in the first bout, this shows that he has sharpened his Muay Thai specific reactions and closed one of the gaps that Tawanchai exploited in the first bout.
What This Tells Us About The Rematch
Both Tawanchai and Superbon are elite Muay Thai athletes whose skill and ring IQ mean that, though they have preferred styles, they can adapt. It is unlikely that the fight we will see next year will be a round-for-round repeat of their 2023 spectacle.
Nattawut showed that even Tawanchai isn’t immune to the tried and tested method used by orthodox fighters when they challenge a southpaw, and by pushing him backward was able to negate his preferred left kick. Tawanchai was unable to defend punches thrown in volume after he threw his left kick. Considering Superbon was prepared for Nattawut’s punching combinations in their recent bout, it’s safe to assume he and his team have seen this strategy in action and taken note.
Superbon’s sharp and accurate elbows show that he’s been working heavily on his Muay Thai craft and has closed the gaps in his game plan that Tawanchai has previously exploited. So, we can only guess, but it seems that Superbon will be more confident if the fight develops into a close-range battle.
However, Tawanchai also proved against Nattawut that he isn’t just a kicker. He can pressure forward, take a fight into deep water, and overwhelm even the most experienced adversary if the need arises.
Predictions?
The fights against Nattawut show us that neither man is two-dimensional; they have the full arsenal of Muay Thai weapons at their disposal but in a battle between southpaw and orthodox fighters we can only assume the fighter being pressed backward will be at a huge disadvantage.
With so much knowledge, skill, and experience at their disposal, any kind of prediction for the rematch between these two titans this January would be pure speculation, all we can say is that both men have likely looked back on their first bout and their most recent outings and evolved their gameplans for the upcoming challenge.
All we can say with certainty is that this fight is sure to be legendary and worthy of being the main event of ONE 170 and you better tune in on January 24th to see how it all unfolds!
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