ONE: Pacio wants to gauge progress against Japanese rivals

Photo from ONE Championship

Careful not to get ahead of himself in his chase for glory, Joshua Pacio wants to first test his mettle against the weight class’ top contenders  before being primed for a title shot.

The 22-year-old fighter was victorious over Lan Ming Qiang in their strawweight clash in the co-main event of ONE: Global Superheroes on Friday at Mall of Asia Arena, but he admitted a championship shot is the least of his concerns at he moment.

“I’m not thinking about it yet,” he said. “For me, I want more fights to gain more experience. I want to face the elites and prove myself.”

Pacio, who improved to 14-2, name-checked Japanese contenders Yoshitaka Naito and Hayato Suzuki, the only two fighters who have beaten hi, as his next targets to gauge his real progress.

“I want to face them again and see if I’ve already improved,” he said.

Joshua Pacio doesn’t want to face ONE Strawweight Champion Alex Silva just yet as he seeks a rematch against Hayato Suzuki and Yoshitaka Naito — his lone defeats in his 14-2 record. @ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/TZyHiN7jUB

— Randolph B. Leongson (@RLeongsonINQ) January 26, 2018

Pacio, though, said he won’t hesitate if ONE decides to pit him against reigning ONE Strawweight Champion Alex Silva in his next fight.

“If ONE decides that I’m worthy of a title shot, I’m still very willing,” said Pacio, who could join the ranks of Honorio Banario, Eduard Folayang, and Geje Eustaquio as members of Team Lakay to hold a title in the promotion.

Pacio is confident that if he does get the nod to challenge Silva, he’s capable of holding his own against the champion.

“If it’s just striking, I’ll be able to keep up with him. But I’m sure that if we face off against each other, he will bring the fight to the ground, so it’s really my ground game that I have to improve on,” he said.

If a title shot comes his way, he knows that he has to make a huge sacrifice of skipping one semester in his hotel and restaurant management course at the University of the Cordilleras.

“Maybe, I’ll stop for one semester so that I can train well. I will really pursue that and prepare well in our trainings.”