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Johan Ghazali believes he'll be forced to use his ring work when he faces the crafty Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat at ONE 167.
The flyweight Muay Thai matchup between the two inter-generational stars will go down on June 7 at Impact Arena in Bangkok.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Ghazali said he expects Nguyen to use the size of the circle as much as possible once the opening bell rings.
'Jojo' added Nguyen would fight on the back foot and counter his oncoming attacks.
He said:
"I feel like anyone who goes up against me, will end up circling around the circle. So I think he'll start fighting on the back foot."
Ghazali has been a whirlwind of a striker ever since he arrived on the ONE Championship scene in February 2023.
After racking up a 4-0 record in the ONE Friday Fights circuit, with three wins coming via knockout, the 17-year-old earned a spot in the main roster and quickly proved why he belonged in the big leagues.
Ghazali was matched up against former world title contender Edgar Tabares, and the Malaysian-American phenom put the Mexican striker away in the first round with a blinding flurry at ONE Fight Night 17.
Nguyen, meanwhile, is one of the most accomplished Muay Thai fighters from Vietnam with five WMF world titles under his belt. The 35-year-old can switch his styles on the fly and go from dictating the pace with his speed to falling back and working behind his countershots.
ONE 167 is available live and free to all Prime Video subscribers in the United States and Canada.
Johan Ghazali says he'll bring it all to the cage at ONE 167 against Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat
ONE 167 is still a couple of months away, and Johan Ghazali is confident he'll be more than at peak form when he makes the walk to the cage.
Ghazali told the South China Morning Post that his training camp has been going routinely, but will be cranked up to a higher degree once fight night looms:
"My preparation has been like, for the past four months, I've been keeping fit. Just improving on small things. Leading up to the last two months, we will crank it up. I'll improve on everything I need to improve and whatever."
Watch Johan Ghazali's entire interview below:
