“It’s just a bump in my journey” – Johan Ghazali regrets missing weight, vows to “take it on the chin and move on”

Ahead of his main roster debut, teenage phenom Johan Ghazali faced some adversity before he had even made it to fight night.

Hopes were high for the 17-year-old prodigy, who had attracted a lot of attention, due to his performances on the ONE Friday Fights series.

Unfortunately, ahead of his contest against Edgar Tabares at ONE Fight Night 17, the prospect missed weight for the biggest fight of his young career.

While he admitted that he doesn’t want to make a habit of it, Johan Ghazali also stated in his post-fight interview that even the all-time greats have had their rough points on the scales:

“It's bad for my name, you know. It was a mistake I made. I take full responsibility but, you know, I feel like everyone makes mistakes and it's just a bump in my journey, you know. I feel like most, like Superlek hasn’t made weight, Rodtang hasn't made weight, and Tawanchai hasn't made weight. So all the greats have bad days, so I'll take it on the chin and move on.”

Watch the full interview below:

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Johan Ghazali made up for his weight miss with a statement finish

If you are going to miss weight ahead of a fight, the best way you can redeem yourself is to go out there and steal the show. That was exactly what Johan Ghazali did.

Any talk of his reputation being damaged was difficult to put much stock into after he dismantled former ONE flyweight Muay Thai world title challenger Edgar Tabares.

In just 36 seconds, he ruthlessly stopped his Mexican opponent with a body shot KO that will certainly be on his highlight reel for years to come.

Fans will hope to see him correct his mistakes next time out but it’s hard to argue with the potential of the devastating finisher.

North American viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription can rewatch all the action from ONE Fight Night 17 via the free event replay.