Nabil Anane credits veteran Mehdi Zatout: “If I didn’t have Mehdi, I would not be in ONE”

Teenage star Nabil Anane believes he wouldn’t have gotten this great of a start to his career if not for Mehdi Zatout.

Anane has been training under Zatout’s guidance for almost the entirety of his career, and he can bring that partnership to the global stage when he makes his ONE Championship debut.

The 19-year-old will have, undoubtedly, the biggest fight of his career so far when he takes on Superlek Kiatmoo9 in a Muay Thai bout at ONE Friday Fights 22 this Friday at the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.

Ahead of his debut, Anane told ONE Championship in an interview that everything he’s achieved in his career is thanks to no small part to Zatout’s influence.

Anane said:

“If I didn’t have Mehdi, I would not be in this organization. Mehdi is a great fighter, and he has trained me every day for this fight. He pushes me to the limit in everything.”

Anane, by all accounts, is still a prospect on the global stage, but he’s already achieved great things for a fighter his age.

The 6-foot-2 striker won gold in the 2017 International Federation of Muay Thai Associations World Championships for 12 to 13-year-olds in the 38-kilogram division.

He also captured the WBC Muay Thai featherweight world title in 2022 then the WBC Muay Thai lightweight world title earlier this year. In all his achievements, Anane was always under the watchful eye of Zatout.

Although he and Zatout have done marvelous work over the past several years, taking on Superlek is a monumental task.

Superlek is one of the best pound-for-pound strikers in the world and holds the ONE flyweight kickboxing world title. The 27-year-old holds an overall record of 133-29-4 and is 9-1 in ONE Championship.