Christian Knowles confident potential Jonathan Haggerty-Rodtang trilogy fight will result in "a totally different outcome"

British striker Jonathan Haggerty has not had much success against Thai superstar Rodtang Jitmuangnon in two showdowns to date. But his coach said that if the two fighters collide for a third time, the outcome will be totally different.

‘The General’ fought ‘The Iron Man’ consecutive times in August 2019 and January 2020 for the ONE flyweight Muay Thai world title.

In their first showdown, Haggerty, then the reigning world champion, was dethroned by Rodtang by unanimous decision. He tried to get the belt back five months later but fell short, stopped in the third round of their title rematch by TKO.

In a recent interview on the podcast of Wesley Gunman Graham, Christian Knowles, head coach of Haggerty at Knowles Academy, shared that if ever his ward and Rodtang meet for a third time, they like their chances.

He highlighted that their fighter has improved a lot since he last saw action against Rodtang and that they have learned from the previous encounters and would come up with a different game plan.

Knowles said:

“For me as a coach, I'd like to revisit Rodtang. I like that challenge. I think it's a different game plan, like a totally different outcome now, a different, a totally different scenario with Rodtang coming up."

Check out what he had to say below:

Jonathan Haggerty has been on an impressive roll since losing back-to-back to Rodtang. He has won six straight, which has seen him become a two-sport world champion, holding the ONE bantamweight Muay Thai and kickboxing world titles at the same time.

He was last in action last month, where he successfully defended his Muay Thai belt against Brazilian challenger Felipe Lopo by way of TKO in the third round.

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Christian Knowles says Jonathan Haggerty’s victory over Felipe Lobo fell within their game plan

Jonathan Haggerty’s successful defense of his ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world title last month fell within their game plan, his coach said.

The Orpington, England, native stopped Brazilian challenger Felipe Lobo by TKO in the third round of their headlining title clash at ONE Fight Night 19 on Prime Video on Feb. 16 in Thailand.

It did not come easy for Haggerty early on as he suffered a knockdown at the hands of ‘The Demolition Man.’ But once he got back his bearings, ‘The General’ was not to be stopped as he made Lobo pay for every misfire he had with telling strikes that turned out to be too much to bear.

Jonathan Haggerty’s coach Christian Knowles shared on Wesley Gunman Graham’s podcast that the way the fight progressed was in line with their push for Lobo to pay every time he misses.

He said:

“The Lobo game plan was to make him miss. Block, block, really strong and hit him back on the counters and force reactions with fakes.

“And then when we got a reaction, hit him hard and he did a little bit of that and I think watching back that fight, there's a few shots maybe that well we were trying to force that early stoppage and maybe John was just trying a little bit too hard to force that stoppage rather than let it come naturally."

Jonathan Haggerty's victory over Felipe Lobo was his first successful defense of the Muay Thai gold, which he seized from longtime champion Nong-O Hama in April last year by KO in the opening round.