MANILA, Philippines—Geje Eustaquio put on an impressive showing against Kim Kyu Sung on Friday in ONE: Enter the Dragon in his first fight since losing the flyweight world title five months ago.
Of all people, however, Eustaquio was far from content with his performance in front of a sellout crowd at Singapore Indoor Stadium.
“I’m not a hundred percent satisfied with my performance. I’m looking forward to get better and I’m willing to go back to the drawing board and be a better athlete,” said Eustaquio,
Eustaquio beat Sung on points, a result that left the Team Lakay star disappointed.
“I was starting to be dismayed by my performance. I was looking forward to take him down, put on an arm triangle or a marcelo choke but I have to be honest, he’s a tough guy,” said Eustaquio.
“The kid is willing to win, that’s why he was unbreakable. That’s why I didn’t get the finish.”
The 6-foot Sung’s glaring height and reach advantage also played a big factor in the fight particularly in the third round.
Team Lakay coach Mark Sangiao also had high praise for the 26-year-old Sung.
“We did not expect that the kid would be that tough. Kim was really tough. He kept on moving forward, he kept on pressuring. Even when we were tagging him, he just won’t back down,” said Sangiao.
Sangiao, though, never had any doubts that Eustaquio would pull through in the end.
“In the last round, Geje kind of slowed down, I noticed he was slowing down, I was kind of nervous at that time but the nice thing about Geje is he knows what he’s doing there,” shared Sangiao.
“For all the things that he was doing, the heavy blows, the spinning kicks and fist, that takes a lot out of you, that’s why he got tired.”