Reigning and undisputed ONE strawweight kickboxing world champion Jonathan Di Bella is getting ready for his highly anticipated return to the ring to defend his ONE Championship gold. But the 27-year-old Italian-Canadian stalwart can’t help but look forward to seeing an idol of his return to action himself.
Di Bella has been a huge fan of legendary Italian-Armenian kickboxer ‘The Doctor’ Giorgio Petrosyan. But Petrosyan has been out of commission since a harrowing knockout loss in 2021 to Thai superstar Superbon Singha Mawynn, and there has been no indication of ‘The Doctor’ returning anytime soon.
Still, that hasn’t stopped Di Bella from wishing it would happen. In fact, if it were up to him, Di Bella wants to see a rematch between Petrosyan and reigning ONE featherweight kickboxing world champion Chingiz ‘Chinga’ Allazov in the near future.
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Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Di Bella expressed his desire to see his idol take on Allazov.
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The Italian-Canadian fighter said:
“The first one happened, I believe in Bellator. And now I want to see it in ONE.”
See the interview below:
Petrosyan and Allazov went to battle in a five-round war at Bellator Kickboxing 10 in 2018. In that fight, Petrosyan ended up winning a unanimous decision over Allazov. Now that Allazov is the rightful king of featherweight kickboxing in ONE Championship, Petrosyan could be next in line to face the Azerbaijani-Belarusian.
Only time will tell if ‘The Doctor’ will make a grand return to the ring. Meanwhile, Di Bella is set for a comeback himself.
Di Bella will defend his ONE strawweight kickboxing strap against ‘Mini T’ Danial Williams at ONE Fight Night 15: Tawanchai vs. Superbon on Prime Video. The event is set to be broadcast live from the iconic Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, October 6.
Fans in the United States and Canada can catch all the action absolutely free on Amazon Prime Video.
