Team Lakay has long envisioned this new generation of fighters from its stable, and who better to lead the parade than the reigning ONE Strawweight World Champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio?
The 25-year-old is the last remaining champion from the Philippines, and a fitting bridge from the past to the future as the Filipino fighters strive to remain as one of the best signed under the ONE Championship banner.
Pacio, for his part, has welcomed that torchbearer role and is beaming with excitement with what the future holds for their camp.
“Of course, we are very happy with where we are right now and I really believe that this is the fruit of our hard toiling. Still, we intend to prove that we’re here to stay,” he said.
“I’m just so excited for everyone to see what my teammates are made of. I’m excited to see Stephen Loman, Danny Kingad, Jeremy Pacatiw, Jenelyn Olsim, and Jhanlo Mark Sangiao get back inside the ONE Circle and really show what they can do because I have no doubt that they will become champions, too, in the near future,” he added.
Pacio, though, knows that aside from the responsibility of being a senior in their camp, he also has to keep his spot as the top dog in his weight class, one he will try to maintain as he closes his trilogy of fights against archrival Yosuke “The Ninja” Saruta at ONE: REVOLUTION on Sept. 24 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
It’s a fight Pacio has long wanted, yet one he understood must be done given the history between them.
“Personally, I don’t think that a third bout against Saruta is necessary after what happened in our last encounter,” he said, referring to the stellar fourth-round knockout win over the Japanese at ONE: ROOTS OF HONOR in April 2019.
However, that doesn’t mean that Pacio isn’t taking this upcoming bout seriously.
He wants to put all the doubts to rest in this third fight against Saruta as he attempts to showcase the most complete Joshua Pacio the world has ever seen.
“You will see a more calculated version of me,” he said. “I know that I wasn’t really able to show everything that I can do, but this time around, I will give my all to perform and enforce every single skill that we have been working on.”
