ONE Championship: Petchtanong just focused on fighting, not titles ahead of return to ring
- The Thai fighter won the bantamweight kickboxing title in 2022 but never got to defend it
Petchtanong Petchfergus makes his ONE Championship return on Friday following a year-long suspension for a failed drugs test.
The Thai fighter won the bantamweight kickboxing title in 2022 but never got to defend it after failing an out of competition test, and will face Alaverdi Ramazanov at ONE Friday Fights 68.
But Petchtanong is simply happy to be back in the ring again.
“My only focus was on when would I be fighting again after the suspension, I wasn’t focused on whether I would be fighting for any titles,” he told the Post.
His reputation has been seriously damaged after testing positive for metenolone and boldenone, banned anabolic steroids, last year.
And while Petchtanong accepted the punishment, he denied having intentionally used a banned substances and said he was proscribed the steroids by a doctor to treat a recurring elbow injury, having been out of action for eight months at the time of the failed test.
“Looking back I still feel upset but it was a lesson, I needed to educate myself more in terms of the rules and regulations and learn from my mistake,” he added.
“Every place has rules and regulations, it depends how well you understand them. I have to learn from this history because I cannot go back and fix the past.”
Petchtanong’s opponent on Friday is also a former bantamweight kickboxing champion who is coming back from suspension.
Ramazanov confronted Jonathan Haggerty, who had just beaten Fabricio Andrade, in the ring and was handed a six-month ban.
Haggerty holds the bantamweight kickboxing belt and, while Petchtanong did not call for an immediate title shot but, at 38, is hoping to have his opportunity sooner rather than later.
“Haggerty is really good in both Muay Thai and kickboxing,” Petchtanong said. “Of course everyone wants to fight him because he’s No 1.”
Haggerty is facing Superlek Kiatmoo9 at ONE 168 on September and will be defending his bantamweight Muay Thai belt on that occasion but has also spoken openly about his desire to transition to MMA and try to win a title in a third sport.
Under those circumstances Petchtanong said he felt ONE Championship would need to act.
“An interim belt would make sense because Haggerty is interested in MMA and he already holds the Muay Thai belt and kickboxing belt,” Petchtanong said. “It will take a long time for him to fight in three different rules, if we have an interim belt than we don’t need to keep waiting for him.”
