After riding high in 2018 and winning four ONE World Championship belts, the famed Team Lakay stable are left with none, just one quarter into 2019.
Now, leading the charge for Team Lakay’s resurgence is none other than Joshua Pacio.
Pacio, who was the first champion from Team Lakay to lose his belt last January 19, gets a shot at redemption against Yosuke Saruta on Friday, April 12 in the co-main event of ONE: Roots of Honor.
And head coach Mark Sangiao hopes that the 23-year-old flyweight from Baguio paves the way for their comeback.
“Sa una si Joshua yung natalo nung January. Siya yung una na nakuhaan ng belt so hopefully siya rin yung unang makakuha ng belt.”
During their first bout, Pacio seemed to be uber-aggressive all throughout, wanting to finish off the late replacement. But his over-eagerness led to several takedowns from Saruta, much to Sangiao’s dismay.
“Sabi nga ni Joshua marami siyang natutunan sa huling laban lalo na yung confidence niya medyo mahina,” admitted Sangiao.
“Sana yung game plan namin masunod niya para makuha niya yung belt.”
To prepare for this bout, Sangiao – known as the Machine back when he was a pro athlete – made sure to return to basics for Pacio’s camp. And it will be the same case for Geje Eustaquio, Kevin Belingon, and Eduard Folayang.
”Siyempre galing tayo from scratch, and nakuha natin yung belt, and now we’re trying to get the belts back,” he declared.
“And it’s not impossible to get the belts back.”
Sangiao did not share what their game plan is on Friday night. All he disclosed was one important thing for their struggling camp.
“Major plan is to break the losing streak.”
