"It definitely shocked me" - Danial Williams in awe of Joseph Lasiri's win

Danial Williams initially expected Prajanchai PK.Saenchai to retain the ONE strawweight Muay Thai world title against Joseph Lasiri at ONE 157: Petchmorakot vs. Vienot.

What he never envisioned was Lasiri dismantling the Thai superstar to become the new champion.

In an interview with ONE Championship, Williams admitted he was stunned with how the match went, especially with Prajanchai’s performance.

Lasiri unleashed a whirling derby of strikes right from the start. His unrelenting assault had Prajanchai on the defensive for most of the contest.

According to Williams, Lasiri made better use of ONE Championship’s four-ounce gloves while Prajanchai was caught off-guard by how they differed from the bigger traditional Muay Thai gloves:

“It definitely shocked me. One thing I didn’t think about [Prajanchai] the last time is that he hasn’t really fought foreign Muay Thai fighters before. He’s always met the Thai-styled fighters, more used to those big gloves, and Lasiri just capitalized on that. He fought him just how I envisioned fighting him, with the forward pressure, using a bit of boxing skills, mixing up the shots.”

Lasiri continued to pressure Prajanchai inside the circle, eventually earning a third-round technical knockout win:

“Prajanchai is very defensive, but you can’t always defend those huge shots with four-ounce gloves. I think that caught Prajanchai off-guard and really put him off his game. Lasiri showed tremendous heart and desire to win. Hats off to him. What a wonderful story, and congrats on being the new champ.”

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Danial Williams applauds Lasiri’s determination

It’s no secret that Joseph Lasiri struggled initially in ONE Championship. The new ONE strawweight Muay Thai world champion went 0-4 in his first four fights and it wasn’t until he moved to strawweight that he began reaping the success he deserved.

Lasiri scored two straight wins over Rocky Ogden and Asahi Shinagawa to set up his title match against Prajanchai.

According to Danial Williams, Lasiri’s determination to climb back up after every loss was what impressed him the most:

“[I admire Lasiri’s] determination for having those four losses and staying at it. That’s what impressed me the most. He proved that no matter how many losses you have got on your record if you just want to chase your dream, all those defeats don’t matter. He said he wanted to get into Prajanchai’s face and break him mentally, and he did exactly that.”