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John Lineker admitted that he began slowing down in the later rounds of his epic rematch with Fabricio Andrade, which inevitably led to the fight-ending sequence.
In the ONE Fight Night 7 main event, John Lineker and Fabricio Andrade delivered an early Fight of the Year contender at the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Thailand. Settling what started months ago at ONE on Prime Video 3, both fighters came out swinging with bad intentions from the opening bell, but in the end, it was Andrade’s endurance that won the day.
In an interview with ONE Championship following the instant classic, Lineker revealed that he was struggling to keep up, which ultimately led to him throwing in the towel just as the fifth round was about to get underway:
“Unfortunately, towards the end of the rounds, I was tiring and slowing down. And, because of that, at the end of the rounds he always landed the hardest blows and that hurt me a lot.”
John Lineker came out guns blazing in the early going, looking to put his wrestling to work and land a walk-off knockout with his signature hooks. Round by round, ‘Hands of Stone’ began to slow and everything came to a crashing halt in the fourth when Andrade was able to bust up Lineker, leading the former champion to retire on his stool after 20 hard-hitting minutes.
John Lineker believes Fabricio Andrade benefited from fighting in Thailand
While both fighters call Brazil home, Fabricio Andrade has lived and trained in Thailand for the last five years, giving ’Wonder Boy’ a sort of home-field advantage in his main event showdown with John Lineker last month. Speaking on the advantages that Andrade enjoyed by competing in his home away from home, Lineker said:
“I believe I felt a little bit about the time difference, the weather… He was also tired, but I was more tired than him. I believe he is more used to it because he lives in Thailand.”
With the climate change and time difference, it’s understandable that Lineker would feel a little disoriented after arriving in the beautiful Southeast Asian country. Whether that played a factor in last weekend’s showdown is debatable, but nevertheless, ONE Championship has a new bantamweight world champion named Fabricio Andrade.
