“Everybody looks over Hiroba, but he’s a tough kid” - Jarred Brooks is not underestimating Hiroba Minowa

Jarred Brooks will make his second outing in ONE Championship against Hiroba Minowa at ONE: Only the Brave on Friday, January 28.

Ahead of his clash against the Saitama native, the fighter known as ‘The Monkey God’ feels that his opponent deserves better recognition inside and outside of the Circle.

Speaking of the 22-year-old fighter, Jarred Brooks told ONE Championship:

“Everybody looks over Hiroba, man. Hiroba is a tough, tough, tough kid. I am not going to sit here and say that I’m just going to run past him and, ‘What’s up, Josh, we’re gonna get it,’ you know. I see a lot of great qualities in a fighter in him. He doesn’t get enough recognition.”

Jarred Brooks has a point. Among the top five contenders and strawweight king Joshua ‘The Passion’ Pacio, Minowa owns the second-longest active winning streak, behind only No.1-ranked Bokang Masunyane.

More impressively, the Japanese star has earned those wins against ranked fighters such as Alex Silva and former No. 5 strawweight contender Lito Adiwang. Masunyane, on the other hand, has picked up wins against Rene Catalan and Ryuto Sawada.

In preparation to face Minowa, the Brooks has done extensive research on his foe’s capabilities, which he broke down to ONE in the interview.

“He throws pretty straight punches when he wants to throw. He’s not a bad boxer. He has a high chin, just a little bit. On the ground, he’s great. He has fast takedowns, super-efficient, defensively sound. He definitely has a lot of great qualities that I see in myself as a grappler as well.”

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Jarred Brooks: “Hiroba is probably the best in the division”

The No. 3-ranked strawweight contender loves facing tough challenges. He views his opponent as one of the best fighters in ONE’s stacked strawweight division.

However, when all is said and done in the Circle at ONE: Only the Brave, ‘The Monkey God’ will immediately turn his attention to ONE strawweight world champion Pacio.

“I think that Hiroba is probably the best in the division besides Bokang. So yeah, I’m more focused on him right now than Joshua... But yeah, Josh, of course, I am coming for you.”

Tune in to ONE: Only the Brave to see if Brooks can jump a big step closer to Pacio with a victory over Minowa.