Team Lakay’s Adiwang longing for showdown vs ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson

Team Lakay’s Lito Adiwang celebrates his latest win. INQUIRER PHOTO/TRISTAN TAMAYO

Lito Adiwang said that his morale took a dent due to the uncertainties brought upon by the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

And who could blame him? The 26-year-old strawweight’s foray into ONE Championship was oozing with promise.

After a solid debut in the milestone event in Tokyo, Japan, last October, Adiwang went on to chalk up another first-round victory here almost three months ago.

“Actually, my coach told me to immediately get ready for a next match,” he told the Inquirer in Filipino, recalling the moments after his Jan. 31 win over Pongsiri Mitsatit via a kimura lock.

“My teammates believed that if I kept my pace, I should take on the contenders, if not the big names,” he added.

But then came the pandemic.

Like many athletes thrust into isolation, Adiwang is trying to keep himself sharp by working on his striking and “relearning” his favorite submission moves.

“My task right now is to keep myself ready for a possible call-up,” he said.

ONE is set to go back to its live setup when it mounts its Infinity 1 event on May 29 at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.The soft-spoken fighter out of the famed Team Lakay stable said he is also working something beyond that: the right to face a particular fighter in his class.

And no, it’s not his teammate and reigning division champion, Joshua Pacio. Not even Japan’s leading strawweights in Yoshitaka Naito and Yosuke Saruta.

“The pound-for-pound best, Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson,” Adiwang said. “He’s the one I want to really test myself against.”

For now, he’s just going to earn his stripes and wait to realize that “dream match.”

“I understand that I have to build my name and put in the work. I’m really hoping someday, I could become worthy in the eyes of the promotion,” he said. INQ