Pacio unfazed by last-minute opponent change

Photo by Mark Giongco/INQUIRER.net

Joshua Pacio is likely on his way to a title shot if he goes on to hurdle his Chinese opponent Min Qiang Lan in the co-main event of ONE: Global Superheroes on Friday.

But as much as the Filipino strawweight contender wants to get his hands on the gold, he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself especially with a big bout coming up against a dangerous opponent.

“Of course, I want the belt but for me, right now, I’m not thinking about getting a title shot just yet,” Pacio told INQUIRER.net in Filipino on Tuesday.

“I still need to gain more experience for me to get to the level of champions,” he added.

Pacio is supposed to fight Pongsiri Misatit, but the Thai was forced to withdraw due to an injury.

ONE announced the opponent change on Friday, giving Pacio’s camp less than two weeks to adjust their game plan.

But Pacio isn’t concerned with the sudden change.

“I’m not worried because fighters in the international stage are expected to cope up with the changes and that’s how fighters’ mentality should be,” Pacio said.

Pacio said there are similarities between his initial foe and replacement in terms of their strengths which is striking, but added that Lan is the more lethal striker than the two.

“We saw a video of one of Lan’s fights and he’s better than Pongsiri in striking so I prepared really hard in training and that’s what I’m going to showcase on Friday.”