Freddie Haggerty Out Forge His Own Legacy At The Inner Circle On May 22 With Big Bro Jonathan’s Help: “The Bigger The Shadow, The Bigger The Star To Shine”
When Jonathan Haggerty retained the ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Title at ONE SAMURAI 1 in Tokyo last month, his younger brother Freddie was in the corner watching. When Nabil Anane rises through the ONE bantamweight ranks, his younger brother Yonis is somewhere in the gym, training harder to keep pace. On Friday, May 22, those two younger brothers collide, and both of them have something to prove beyond the result.
Freddie Haggerty takes on Yonis Anane in a strawweight Muay Thai bout at The Inner Circle on Friday, May 22, live in Asia primetime from Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Freddie, 21, carries a 23-5 professional record and three promotional knockouts into the fight. Jonathan’s achievements — multiple ONE World Titles across two disciplines — cast a long shadow over any young fighter coming up in the same family. Freddie does not pretend otherwise, and he does not resent it either. He uses it.
“Having him there is also an inspiration,” Freddie said. “It helps me push harder because I know what he’s achieved, and I know it’s a big, big shadow, but the bigger the shadow, the bigger the star to shine.”
Jonathan will be in the corner again on Friday, as he always is. His experience across five-round title fights and career-defining moments gives Freddie a resource that most fighters in the weekly series simply do not have access to — a world champion who has already navigated every pressure situation the sport can produce and can communicate exactly what to do when those moments arrive inside Lumpinee.
“Jon will be there come fight night, whether I’m losing the round, whether I’m winning the round,” Freddie said. “He’s been there, and he knows how to handle things, so it’s great to have his experience.”
Yonis, 18, walks in as the youngest WBC Muay Thai World Champion in the discipline’s history and a 3-1 ONE promotional record already behind him. Nabil’s presence in the same organisation means the family comparison follows him everywhere in the same way it follows Freddie — two teenagers from two fighting families, each trying to establish an identity that belongs entirely to them.
Friday night at Lumpinee Stadium is where both of them get to start doing exactly that.
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