“I never thought I was the underdog” – Superlek on remaining confident despite Takeru’s glaring kickboxing accolades

Superlek Kiatmoo9 has his unwavering confidence to thank for after defeating Japanese kickboxing sensation Takeru Segawa at his own game.

The pair of superstars headlined ONE 165 on January 28 at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan, in one of the most thrilling showdowns in kickboxing history.

Superlek, the current ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion, was shockingly considered a huge underdog going into the bout despite his growing success and popularity in ONE Championship.

To put it into perspective, months leading up to the bout, the Thai native shocked the world by defeating long-time rival Rodtang Jitmuangnon in a three-round kickboxing bout. Apparently, it made little difference to many as they had already chosen Takeru to win the war.

On paper, Superlek was supposed to lose, but as we witnessed last month, the Japanese superstar was just another victim for the defending world champion.

Now that things have settled down in the kickboxing world, Superlek shared his thoughts with the South China Morning Post about being called the underdog despite his experience as an all-encompassing striker:

“Every victory just makes me happy. It just makes every athlete happy. That’s normal. In terms of people saying that I’m the underdog, I never really thought I was the underdog. He, of course, had more advantages in terms of familiarity with kickboxing rules and I come from Muay Thai."

Superlek continued:

"Yeah, I’ve been doing kickboxing for a while, but compared to him, it’s like a shorter time span. I’m less familiar with the kickboxing rules but during my training, I’ve always done my very best to familiarize myself with the kickboxing rules."

See the full interview below:

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Superlek says he’s open to changing weight classes post Takeru and Rodtang

At this point in his career, there isn’t anything that Superlek can’t do.

The 28-year-old champion continues to have a burning desire to grow and test out new horizons. Thus far, he’s shown the world he’s more than equal to the task after handing losses to two of the best strikers on the planet.

So why can’t he challenge someone as big as Jonathan Haggerty next?

Speaking to ONE, Superlek shared why moving up a weight class makes the most sense at this point of his career:

"For me, going up to bantamweight would be a very good thing because I want new challenges in my life. I can still continue in the flyweight division, but going up to bantamweight is something I am very interested in as well.”

The replay of ONE 165 replay can be watched on demand via watch.onefc.com.