Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao believes Jeremy “The Juggernaut” Pacatiw passed his long-awaited debut with flying colors, but he insists that he could have done better.
Pacatiw impressed in his first match under the ONE Championship banner, scoring a convincing unanimous decision win over “The Ghost” Chen Rui at ONE: Battleground last Friday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
“He measured up to expectations. He did great and his performance is commendable,” Sangiao said.
“I would give him a solid eight out 10. Let’s apply the universal 80/20 rule here. The 20 percent goes to the small but very important facets that he still needs to work on.
“It’s always good to have something left to polish and train on when he goes back to the gym. That lacking factor is a crucial force to keep refining,” the decorated tactician continued.
Before the match, Pacatiw described his style as “dancing” with all his activity inside the Circle.
He proved just that as he frustrated Chen with his movement while taking advantage of the openings, evident when he put Chen into some tough positions on the ground.
For Sangiao, the only thing missing from this win is an emphatic finish, but no doubt he’ll take this victory.
“I would have wanted everyone to see his finishing prowess,” Sangiao said.
“We really wanted to submit Chen Rui in that match, but The Ghost is not that easy to submit. If you watch the fight history of Chen Rui, you’ll see that he never submitted. But no question, it would have been a remarkable performance for Jeremy if he made him cave in.”
At the end of the day, Sangiao believes that Pacatiw has more to give. And he expects fans to see it in “The Juggernaut’s” upcoming matches, especially if he keeps on working the same way he did for this match.
“I’m really happy that Jeremy followed the game plan we prepared, and yes, this is also the new breed that we have been talking about,” Sangiao said. “There is no special ingredient there but endless training, repetition, and consistency.
“It was really a statement win for Jeremy. He showed everyone that ‘The Juggernaut’ is a name they should remember and he’s here to stay.”
ONE returns to action with ONE: BATTLEGROUND II, where Eduard “Landslide” Folayang takes on Zhang “The Warrior” Lipeng in the main event. Download the ONE Super App for more info.
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