WATCH: Takeru puts in tremendous work in sparring ahead of looming ONE Championship debut

It is only a matter of time before fans can finally see Takeru Segawa fighting in ONE Championship because at any moment now, the promotion could announce his debut opponent, which is expected to happen in early 2024.

This is after Takeru signed an exclusive multi-fight contract with the world’s largest martial arts organization earlier this year. The Japanese superstar was a former three-division champion in K-1 and racked up an impressive record of 42 wins and three losses.

While patiently waiting for his highly anticipated first match in ONE, Takeru has been putting in a lot of work and preparation to ensure he is the best version of himself. In fact, he is currently on a US tour to ramp up his preparations at Boxing Works in California.

The 32-year-old posted an update on his ongoing camp in America by posting two short clips of his recent sparring session with Jonathan ONeill, who is a WBC Muay Thai champion and one of the fighters affiliated with Boxing Works.

He captioned the Instagram post with: (as translated to English)

“SPARRING DAY 🇺🇸🔥With WBC Muay Thai 67kg Champion ONeill 🥊8R batch bee. Thank you 🙏🏼 @jonny2nice”

In those two short clips, Takeru was seen throwing crisp combinations with his hands, and although it was only a sparring session, the power was visibly heard whenever he touched ONeill. He also showcased his capability to put pressure on his opponents by moving forward and cornering them into the ropes.

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Takeru expected to fight ONE Championship’s biggest stars

Takeru’s first official sighting in ONE Championship since signing on the dotted line was when he was watching the super fight between Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Superlek Kiatm009 in the main event of ONE Friday Figts 32 in September 2023 inside the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

It gave him the opportunity to have a face-to-face encounter with ‘The Iron Man’ and share a moment with him, which hyped up the fans to call for a mega showdown between the two. Aside from the reigning ONE flyweight Muay Thai world champion, there are also other fighters that the kickboxing superstar can fight.

Names like ONE flyweight kickboxing world champion Superlek, Taiki Naito, Tagir Khalilov, Walter Goncalves, and even two-sport world champion Jonathan Haggerty are also on his radar, but regardless of who Takeru will face on his maiden outing with the promotion, it will surely be a barnburner.