John “Hands of Stone” Lineker believes the worst is over and he’s on to better things.
Three months after losing the ONE Bantamweight World Title to the scales and getting hurt in his first bout against Fabricio “Wonder Boy” Andrade, “Hands of Stone” looks to change his fortunes with a solid outing in their rematch.
He’ll get a second chance at Andrade when they tangle for the vacant ONE Bantamweight World Title in the main event of ONE Fight Night 7 on 25 February at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
“I watched my fight against him again. Inside the cage, it’s one thing. Watching it on TV, you have another vision,” Lineker said.
“The fact is that I let him land a lot of jabs, which ended up hurting my face a lot. I wasn’t feeling his punches so much. I wasn’t afraid of his punches, so I took those jabs and ended up getting a pretty bruised face.”
Those jabs were certainly a big factor in the match. Lineker found his right eye shut as Andrade sent one jab after another crashing into his face.
A lot of people felt like he was nearing defeat, especially after Andrade connected with a huge knee to the body that hurt Lineker.
The next knee, however, landed on his groin and forced the match to be stopped because Lineker couldn’t continue even after the five-minute injury break.
Had they been able to go the full five rounds, Lineker believes it would’ve been a different story.
“The only thing that hurt was the knee to the rib, and then he landed the knee in my groin. If it wasn’t for that illegal move, he would have had to fight me for five rounds, and it would’ve been a war until the end,” he said.
Now given a rare chance to redeem himself, Lineker is out to prove that he’s still the best bantamweight on the planet.
“This fight will show that he didn’t beat me, and that he wasn’t the one who took my belt,” he said.
“But like I said, none of us have anything to prove. We’re going to enter the cage, do our best, and in the end, we’ll see who will leave with their arms raised.”
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