If there is one thing that Joshua “The Passion” Pacio wants to regain heading into his rematch with ONE strawweight champion Yosuke “Tobizaru” Saruta, it is his never-say-die mindset.
Pacio admitted that he lost a bit of his confidence in their first outing, and he vows to showcase that when they go at it again in the co-main event of ONE: Roots of Honor slated on April 12 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
“Now I need to focus even more, I need to be more confident,” said Pacio. “From what I saw in our last bout, my confidence was really low, and now I need to be more confident than ever.”
Saruta put together a tremendous performance, scoring an upset of Pacio to capture the title.
The Japanese phenom was relentless with his chain wrestling, taking Pacio down on numerous occasions while trading powerful combinations on the feet.
Throughout five action-packed rounds, both Saruta and Pacio put forth their best effort. In the end, it was Saruta who was able to garner two of the three judges’ nods to win by split decision.
Although Pacio truly believes that he won the first contest, the 23-year-old Team Lakay standout understands where the judges are coming from and it is one of his key takeaways from his first meeting with Saruta.
