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Surging Muay Thai monster Phetjeeja Lukjaoporongtom is heading for a unification bout with reigning divisional queen Janet Todd at ONE Fight Night 20. The bout will be for the undisputed ONE women's atomweight kickboxing world title and will take place inside the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
'The Queen', as her fans dub her, had a massively epic run last year with five straight wins in ONE Championship, culminating in a dominant unanimous decision win over Anissa Meksen for the interim strap.
At just 22 and already a world champion, Phetjeeja is still yet to reach her athletic prime. With the guidance of her elders, the young lioness started Muay Thai at a young age, already amassing 100 fights at the age of 10. It must be noted as well that over half of her opponents at that time were boys.
In an interview with ONE Championship, the interim world champion spoke about her main source of inspiration in her young career: her father.
She said:
“He taught me that no matter how hurt or tired you are, don’t shed a tear. Don't show your weakness to anyone."
Phetjeeja continued:
"Another piece of advice he often reminds me is to never ride or sit on a motorcycle. He forbade me to ride motorcycles because he thought it was dangerous. He worries and warns me every time I leave the house.”
Phetjeeja sparred with male fighters in preparation for Janet Todd
It seems Phetjeeja is bringing back her old training habits as she has been sparring with men in her preparation for Janet Todd. Training in Venum Training Camp Thailand under fellow ONE fighter Mehdi Zatout, the young Thai had more foreign fighters as sparring partners - most of them were men.
She told ONE:
“I was notified of this fight in January. So I had about a month and a half to prepare for this fight. My coach studied my opponent for me and told me what to do each day. All of my sparring partners are foreigners because this gym has very few Thai athletes. And I sparred with male fighters too.”
Let's see if this will translate well at ONE Fight Night 20, airing live on US Primetime on March 8, free of charge for existing Prime Video subscribers in North America.
