When Giorgio “The Doctor” Petrosyan enters the ONE Circle for his showdown against Samy “AK47” Sana in the ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix Championship, he will have tunnel vision.
The two featherweight kickboxers square off at ONE: Century Part II on October 13 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.
Even with US$1 million at stake, Italian-Armenian sensation insists he is entirely focused on Sana.
“I’m not thinking about anything else — not about the prize money, and not about it being the final of the tournament,” Petrosyan said.
“If I were to turn my focus to different things, I’d lose sight of my goal, which is Samy Sana. So, that’s not what I want. I want my opponent to be my ultimate goal.”
The 33-year-old got into the finals with an emphatic first-round knockout win over “Smokin” Jo Nattawut at ONE: Dreams of Gold on August 16 in Thailand.
Meanwhile, Sana dispatched “Genghis Khan” Dzhabar Askerov by majority decision on the same night.
Asked to break down his opponent, the five-time kickboxing World Champion from Team Petrosyan is wary of the Parisian’s reach advantage.
“AK47” has a near five-inch height advantage over Petrosyan. Still, the Italian knows it is something that he has to be prepared for.
“He does not strike me as a particularly powerful opponent. He is quite rangy, he is a pretty accurate striker, and he is good. So if he’s in the final, it means that he is pretty tough. I am preparing to face him, so we’ll see how it pans out,” Petrosyan said.
“I train hard and prepare the best that I can because I want to be at the top of my game in the ring.”
Sana has shown incredible toughness over the course of his career both in kickboxing and Muay Thai, but can he handle the power and precision of “The Doctor”?
“I know that he is a very tough opponent who can take a punch,” Petrosyan said.
“He has never had to deal with my strikes before, though. We’ll have to wait and see, but it will definitely be a hard-fought match for both of us.”
Catch ONE: Century, the biggest World Championship martial arts event in history. No organization has ever promoted two full-scale World Championship events in one day, with 28 World Champions competing in multiple World Title bouts.
PART I airs live on Cignal TV at 11:00am Philippine Standard Time (PHT) on Sunday, 13 October. TV5 will cut-in to live broadcast 10:30 am.
PART II, on the other hand, airs on ABS-CBN S+A or Cignal TV at 6:30pm Philippine Standard Time (PHT). TV5 will show the special delay live at 9:30pm PHT.
All preliminary matches will be aired on ONE’s Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts.
Read More From ONE Championship:
How Giorgio Petrosyan Became ‘The Doctor’
Samy Sana Says He Is The Man To End Giorgio Petrosyan’s Dominance
