Team Lakay’s Jeremy Pacatiw shares the excitement of fight fans over the upcoming rematch between rivals Fabricio Andrade and John Lineker at ONE Fight Night 7.
The two Brazilian stars will face off once more for the vacant ONE bantamweight world title after their first encounter at ONE Fight Night 3 ended in disaster.
Andrade seemed to have the match won, but his final strike accidentally landed a bit low, shattering Lineker’s cup, and forcing the match to be declared a no-contest.
Nevertheless, “Wonder Boy” was dominant for much of the fight. Coupled with unrelenting trash talk, Pacatiw believes that Andrade is heading into ONE Fight Night 7, holding a crucial advantage over Lineker.
Pacatiw noted that Andrade, in his mind, has Lineker figured out and all that’s left is for the cage doors to close.
“Yeah, I think Fabricio has the mental edge now and his confidence is at an all-time high. He has this mindset now of ‘I wanna kill this guy,’” Pacatiw said.
“He’s really boosted for this fight, because maybe he knows that he rightfully deserved to get the win in the first match, but it just ended with a low blow. Fabricio probably knows that ‘this is nothing for me, even if we go into a rematch,’” he added.
Andrade, whom Pacatiw lost to at ONE: Full Circle in February 2022, had Lineker on the defensive for much of their first meeting in October 2022.
The 25-year-old repeatedly tagged “Hands of Stone” throughout the three rounds that the fight lasted.
After folding Lineker with a cracking knee strike, Andrade moved in for the finish, but his second knee strike inadvertently landed on Lineker’s groin.
Lineker, who had his cup shattered in the impact, failed to recover in the allotted time, forcing a no-contest finish.
Andrade, rightfully, was disappointed with the finish and he took every opportunity he got to talk smack about Lineker.
Pacatiw believes that the mic work will be to Andrade’s favor heading into Lumpinee Boxing Stadium on February 25 (Manila time).
“Sometimes all that trash talk makes you lose track of things. It’s like you’re aware of what’s been said of you and you start to lose focus. So my advice to Lineker is to just ignore what Fabricio said, just focus on the fight,” he said. (ABS-CBN News)