Tawanchai vs Superbon 2: What to expect
ONE Championship is pulling out all the stops for its historic ONE 170 card, taking place at the iconic Lumpinee Stadium this January. Included in this sensational Muay Thai event is an electric Muay Bouk clash between Seksan and Soe Lin Oo and an exhilarating battle between Nabil Anane and the imposing Scot, Nico Carillo, for the provisional Muay Thai weight crown rooster.
However, the main event on this card is the most anticipated; the highly anticipated rematch between reigning Featherweight Muay Thai World Champion Tawanchai PKSaenchaigym and Kickboxing World Champion Superbon. This bout is a reimagining of the sensational 2023 Friday Fights 46 bout, in which the reigning champion, Tawanchai, bested the challenger in a five-round spectacle that was as much a battle of wits as physical prowess.
In this article we will look back at the last time these two champions faced each other, explaining the flow and progression of the fight before looking forward to their most recent encounters, taking on Muay Mat veteran, Jo Nattawut, to help us speculate on how This The long-awaited rematch could arrive.
The first clash
The first bout, in December 2023, was a clash of elite Muay Thai IQs. Usually, when two seasoned Thai veterans of opposing stances meet, the fight quickly evolves into a battle for left-versus-right kick supremacy, but the left-handed champion, Tawanchai, was quickly able to establish distance control with the teeps and helpers of Muay Thai, nullifying Superbon’s ability to push forward and attack with his dominant side.
Instead of kicking, Superbon tried to lure the champion onto his front foot and attempted to counter Tawanchai’s body kick with powerful hooks. He had moments of success here, but Tawanchai soon adapted and would cover and retreat from punch or close range and tie up Superbon’s arms in the clinch.
Having been more active in the kickboxing world in the run-up to this fight, Superbon’s reactions were a bit slow and Tawanchai was able to find a home for many of his elbows. This put him inches ahead of his opponent at all distances and, thus, he secured a hard-fought but unanimous victory to regain his Featherweight strap.
What has happened since then
Both fighters have been fairly inactive on the ONE Championship roster throughout 2024. Tawanchai has only fought once this year, against fellow Thai, tough guy Jo Nattawut. Superbon fought twice. Once to defend his Kickboxing title against Marat Grigorian, where he hid behind the padding of his gloves and smothered the Armenian’s punches to deliver powerful knee strikes, and once in Muay Thai where he also faced Nattawut according to Muay Thai rules, ending the fight with an elbow in the first round. This gives us just a glimpse of how both men have developed since their first meeting.
Nattawut was able to take Superbon’s game plan, countering Tawanchai’s left kicks with his hands and building on it, wearing the champion’s feared kick and then unloading punches in combinations with much more success.
Forcing the southpaw Tawanchai backwards made it harder for the champion to fire his left kick and punching in bunches meant he had a much harder time defending himself. It was a game plan that seemed destined to succeed until, in the fourth round, Tawanchai abandoned his iconic kicking style and began to advance, pushing the more successful challenger back to claim a narrow majority-points victory.
Superbon’s winning game plan against Grigorian is not something that could be easily replicated under Thai rules. The ability to elbow and squeeze, combined with the lack of padded gloves to use for defense, would make the approach incredibly risky at best.
Although Superbon’s fight against Nattawut ended brutally in the first round, when he landed a wild elbow, it gives us a look at the challenger’s development since his failed attempt at the title late last year. He landed three elbows in the first round, each time while coming forward to crowd Nattawut as he unloaded punches. Considering he seemed slightly unprepared for Tawanchai’s elbows in the first fight, this shows that he has honed his Muay Thai-specific reactions and filled one of the gaps that Tawanchai exploited in the first fight.
What does this tell us about the rematch
Both Tawanchai and Superbon are elite Muay Thai athletes whose skill and ring IQ mean that, although they have preferred styles, they can adapt. It’s unlikely that the bout we see next year will be a round-for-round repeat of the 2023 spectacle.
Nattawut proved that even Tawanchai is not immune to the tried and tested method used by orthodox fighters when challenging a southpaw, and by pushing him backwards he managed to negate his favored left kick. Tawanchai was unable to defend punches thrown in volume after throwing his left kick. Considering that Superbon was prepared for Nattawut’s punching combinations in their recent bout, it’s safe to assume that he and his team saw this strategy in action and took note.
Superbon’s sharp and precise elbows show that he has worked hard on his Muay Thai craft and has filled the gaps in his game plan that Tawanchai had previously exploited. So we can only guess, but it looks like Superbon will be more confident if the fight turns into a close-quarters battle.
However, Tawanchai also proved against Nattawut that he is not just a footballer. He can push forward, fight in deep water, and overwhelm even the most experienced opponent when needed.
Predictions?
The fights against Nattawut show us that neither man is two-dimensional; they have the entire arsenal of Muay Thai weapons at their disposal, but in a battle between left-handed and orthodox fighters we can only assume that the fighter pushed backwards will be at a huge disadvantage.
With so much knowledge, skill and experience at their disposal, any kind of prediction for the rematch between these two titans this January would be pure speculation, all we can say is that both men have probably thought back to their first meeting and their moment multiple recent releases and have evolved their game plans for the upcoming challenge.
All we can say for sure is that this fight is sure to be legendary and worthy of being the main event of ONE 170 and it’s best to tune in on January 24th.th to see how it all unfolds!
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