Freddie Haggerty Is Done Being Called “The Young Kid” Ahead Of The Inner Circle 30
Freddie Haggerty believes a statement knockout will do more than move him up the rankings. He wants it to finally kill a label he feels has followed him since his ONE Championship debut.
The Team Underground and The Knowlesy Academy fighter meets Rungruanglek TN Muaythai in a strawweight Muay Thai curtain raiser at The Inner Circle 30, streaming live from Bangkok’s Lumpinee Stadium this Friday, September 11.
The 21-year-old Englishman enters off an unanimous decision win over Yonis Anane at The Inner Circle 15 this past May, a performance he credits to a deliberate shift in his approach.
“I’ve worked a lot with Christian Knowles – more than I usually do on the pads. I feel like my movement has gone up a level,” Haggerty said. “I don’t just want to stand there and brawl, but I want to try and actually develop my game by hitting and moving and creating openings.”
That evolution has a specific target on Friday. Rungruanglek brings a perfect 5-0 record including three finishes, and Haggerty has already broken down how he plans to unravel it.
“We’re gonna be hitting and moving, making sure we’re not there. I want to test his reactions against all my movement, then my feints, and then my power,” he said. “His main weapon is punching. He comes in and swings.”
Haggerty has gone as far as scripting the finish in his head, round by round.
“I’ll let him come to me in round one. I’ll let him chase me, and he’ll only tire himself out,” he said. “Then, I’ll hit and move as he comes to swing and catch him just as he comes in. I want to catch him clean on the chin.”
A highlight-reel win, he believes, would push him within reach of ONE’s coveted US$100,000 main roster contract. It would also settle something that has bothered him for years.
“I came into ONE Championship as a young 19-year-old kid. And I feel like I’m still seen as that young kid. I want to break that image,” he said. “I turn 22 the week after this fight. I’m a grown man now.”
Landing the contract days before that birthday would carry extra weight for a fighter already thinking about the bigger picture ahead.
“I’ve seen my brother do it. He was 21 when he first fought in ONE Championship,” Haggerty said. “To just grow everything and scale this as big as it possibly can be means the world to me.”
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