Team Lakay’s Joshua Pacio retained his ONE Strawweight world title following a first-round knockout win over Japanese rival Yosuke Saruta on Friday (Sept. 24) at ONE: Revolution from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
Pacio unloaded with a barrage of punches on the Japanese fighter to win the trilogy match.
The longtime rivals chose to trade strikes at the center of the circle from the sound of the opening bell, with the Japanese fighter pushing the pace and the Filipino standout opting to counter.
After Pacio hurt Saruta with a left hand, he swarmed his opponent to swiftly complete the finish and retain the gold.
In other matches, another Team Lakay member, Lito Adiwang, came out victorious.
Adiwang blasted fellow strawweight Hexigetu with a blitzkrieg of kicks and pummeled his opponent for three rounds to win via a unanimous decision.
Also, Roel Rosauro fell to James Yang via technical knockout in the second round. – bny
