Liam Harrison believes he would have knocked out Nong-O prior to injury

If not for the in-fight injury he sustained, British striker Liam Harrison believes he could have been the one to dethrone former ONE bantamweight Muay Thai world champion Nong-O Hama.

The two world-class sluggers met for the world title last August at ONE on Prime Video 1 in Singapore. Unfortunately, the pride of Leeds had his quest cut short as he injured his knee after being struck by a crushing leg kick by Nong-O in the opening round. He was unable to continue and was forced to take a technical knockout defeat.

Speaking to the South China Morning Post, ‘Hitman’ shared that had the injury not occurred, he had a realistic shot at beating Nong-O and being crowned new division king.

Liam Harrison said:

“Of course, to be fair when I fought Nong-O I thought there’d be some point in time where I land some heavy punches and I thought I would knock him out. Obviously, he didn’t go that way and I got my knee blasted into about a million pieces.”

Watch the interview below:

After the injury and the surgery that ensued, Liam Harrison has been busy putting in the work to return to fighting form and he has happily shared that progress has been steady. There is no word yet on when his next fight will be but he hopes it will come within the year.

As far as his title shot, 'Hitman' has to tweak his target with the division having a new sheriff in fellow British campaigner Jonathan ‘The General’ Haggerty.

Haggerty defeated Nong-O by knockout in the opening round of their headlining title fight at ONE Fight Night 9 on Prime Video in Thailand back in April.

An all-British world title clash is highly likely down the line, with both Harrison and Haggerty expressing willingness to make it happen.

Rewatch Liam Harrison vs Nong-O, here: