Rodtang Scores 80-Second Finish Of Takeru In Dream Kickboxing Super-Fight At ONE 172
For more than a year, Thai megastar Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangnon waited for a chance to rebook his duel with Japanese kickboxing icon Takeru “Natural Born Krusher” Segawa.
The former ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion’s hard work, patience, and determination paid off in the main event of ONE 172 inside the legendary Saitama Super Arena in Japan on March 23.
It took him just slightly over a minute – 80 seconds to be exact – of their scheduled five-round flyweight kickboxing super-fight to put the Team Vasileus representative to sleep and wrap up the world’s largest martial arts organization’s return to the “Land of the Rising Sun” in style.
The 27-year-old showed up in the long-awaited showdown with the three-division K-1 Champion in tip-top shape and it translated to the most memorable win of his resume, a career already defined by his inspiring displays on the global stage.
After exchanging leg kicks early on, the pride of Jitmuangnon Gym walked down his dance partner without fear, before unloading a clean left hook-right straight combination which set the stage for the massive finish.
Seeing Takeru hurt, there was no let-up on Rodtang’s end as he connected on the same one-two combination near the corner post before uncorking the coup de grâce – a booming left hook that put the hometown favorite down for good.
Takeru struggled to regain his footing, and as a result, Rodtang secured the knockout at the 1:20 mark of the first round, celebrating in front of a shell-shocked Japanese crowd on the turnbuckle.
At the same time, “The Iron Man” improved to 274-43 in his career and took home a US$50,000 performance bonus for the ferocious finish that should live on everyone’s heads for a long time.
That triumph also kicked off what could be the next chapter of an already legendary career – one that has him primed to either reclaim his ONE Flyweight Muay Thai World Title that remains vacant or a shot at “The Kicking Machine” Superlek Kiatmoo9’s ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Championship.
