“Hero inside and outside the ring” - Fans loving Takeru Segawa’s pledge to help children in Laos with his fight purse from ONE 172

Japanese kickboxing legend Takeru Segawa brought holiday cheer to schoolchildren in Laos and vowed to do more by pledging his purse in his scheduled match in March. His gesture earned love and praise from fans who shared their thoughts on social media.

'The Natural Born Crusher' and his team did their outreach during the holiday season, with the kickboxing icon even coming in a Santa Claus suit. Takeru made a financial donation to various schools in Laos to help fund toilet repairs and clean water filters and gave the kids schools materials that they could use for their studies.

He also pledged to give his purse for his long-awaited kickboxing showdown with Thai superstar Rodtang Jitmuangnon at ONE 172 on March 23 in Japan.

ONE Championship recently shared a carousel of photos of Takeru's activities on its Instagram profile. Check out the post below,

Fans shared their thoughts on what the Yonago City native did, and below are what some of them wrote in the comments section.

"Hero inside and outside the ring👏," one fan underscored.

Natural born hero

"Heart of a real Champ! 🙌👏," another user said.

The champ is here!

Below are screenshots of what others had to say:

Awesome did

Warrior and champ

ONE 172 will see Takeru realize his long-sought goal to clash with 'The Iron Man' since he came on board the promotion in 2023.

The event will take place at the at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama and air live and for free at U.S. primetime to North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription. Pre-registration for tickets is available on this link.

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Takeru happy to finally get a shot at Rodtang at ONE 172

Takeru Segawa is happy to finally land a date to battle Rodtang Jitmuaangnon, calling it a destiny.

The two are featured in the headlining contest at ONE 172 on March 23 in Saitama, Japan. It is the rescheduled showdown that was supposed to take place in Japan last year but did not push through after the Thai sensation went down with injury.

In the press conference for ONE 172, the Japanese legend shared his thoughts on his fight set and sealed, saying:

"I'm very happy to finally fight Rodtang. He had injuries and our fight was postponed, but this match is happening now means it was destiny."

'The Natural Born Crusher' won his first fight in ONE in his previous match in September, knocking out rising Burmese fighter Thant Zin in their flyweight kickboxing match. It was a bounce-back for him after dropping his debut in January last year against Thai kickboxing superstar Superlek Kiatmoo9.

For his part, Rodtang was last in action in November, defeating Englishman Jacob Smith by unanimous decision. He, however, was stripped of his ONE flyweight Muay Thai belt in the lead-up for missing weight and was ineligible to win the title back despite the victory as part of his penalty.