THREE fighters are being billed as top challengers this year for One strawweight champion Joshua Pacio.
Yosuke Saruta is the only athlete to dent the Filipino warrior’s record during his last eight matches, beating Pacio in January 2019, before the latter evened the head-to-head a few months later.
The first half of the year seems like the perfect time for them to meet for a trilogy.
Pacio won over Alex Silva in in January 2020, while Saruta scored important victories over Daichi Kitakata and Yoshitaka Naito.
Hiroba Minowa has also been mentioned as a top challenger for Pacio.
The Japanese grappling specialist scored a hard-earned victory over Lito "Thunder Kid" Adiwang in November 2020.
Bokang Masunyane is tagged by the organization as the hottest fighter in the strawweight division.
Masunyane defeated former One strawweight title contender Rene “The Challenger” Catalan in December, finishing the bout in 37 seconds.
The win pushed him up to third in the official One strawweight rankings, and if the top two contenders don’t meet “The Passion” this year, then perhaps Masunyane could.
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