On 3 May 2026, much attention focused on Takeru Segawa after he won by TKO against Rothanong Jitmuangnon in the 5th round, capturing the interim flyweight world kickboxing title at ONE SAMURAI 1 held on 29 April.
After the fight, media interviewed Superbon from Superbon Training Camp, the ONE Kickboxing Featherweight World Champion, who gave an interesting analysis of the bout.
"Looking at the overall picture, I thought the fight was very exciting, round by round. Both fighters exchanged weapons honorably. The game unfolded as we saw. What changed the game was Rothanong being counted. He is a smart fighter, but after being counted, he had to engage more aggressively, opening up to trade shots because he was behind in the fight, so the dynamics shifted."
"Takeru is better at western boxing; he comes from kickboxing, while Rothanong comes from Muay Thai. Takeru’s punches are faster, and he has much more sparring experience—almost like a western fighter. When they directly exchanged in the game, it was tough for Rothanong. Although Rothanong’s western boxing skills are better than mine, when compared to pure western-style fighters, he’s still behind. Even though his punches are harder and he has better endurance, a shot to the chin can still knock you down. No one can take a hit and not go down—I've been knocked down before, as have Buakaw and Saenchai. This shows how the game changed. When a fighter is counted twice, it’s even harder to recover."
"Regarding Rothanong himself, he didn’t train at 100 percent. Takeru may have trained at 200 percent, while Rothanong was at 50. If you look at it that way, there’s a 150 percent gap in skill and game readiness. Rothanong is still skilled; in a rematch, he could have a 50:50 chance to win. There were many factors on fight day—various news and lack of readiness."
"If Rothanong hadn’t been counted, the fight would have been different. After being counted, Takeru couldn’t counter his push kicks. Without the count, it would have been another story. Takeru couldn’t solve that issue. If Rothanong kept landing pushes, Takeru’s punches wouldn’t connect, and Rothanong could push back. But after being counted, Rothanong seemed unsure why to continue pushing—push kicks are meant to set up punches. But trading punches is a different game. It’s not just about getting the count back; he needed to score a knockout (because he was down two counts), which is difficult."
Meanwhile, Superbon is preparing to defend his ONE Kickboxing Featherweight World Title against Liu Mengyang, a top contender from China, at The Inner Circle event on Friday, 22 May, starting at 18:30.