There’s a new pound-for-pound king of the kickboxing world. Chingiz Allazov unseated Superbon Singha Mawynn for the ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Championship at ONE Fight Night 6 this past Friday, Jan. 13, in stunning fashion, and he now sits high atop the mountain.
Ironically, the Azerbaijani-Belarusian star’s road to the crown started with a debut loss inside the ONE Championship Circle. After suffering a narrow defeat to Enriko Kehl in Apr. 2021, Allazov regrouped with his coach and then entered the ONE Featherweight World Grand Prix.
He went on to dominate the illustrious tournament, scoring three incredible wins to earn his shot at Superbon’s gold.
Following his World Title victory, Allazov credited his trainer for the support he has offered him throughout his ONE tenure.
“I talked about this tournament with my coach. My Coach told me, ‘Chingiz, you’re one of the best kickboxers on the planet, but if you don’t focus your mind, you’ll lose a second time. Please focus 100% and trust me, and I will trust you, and we will go up and we will win this tournament,’” he said.
“Chinga” used those sage words to develop himself in all the right places, with special attention being placed on his mindset.
He then broke down Superbon’s style to a tee in the lead-up to Friday’s main event tussle and tailored a perfect gameplan to best the Thai superstar.
“You know, I said before I don’t talk about the fight. I talked about my mentality, my mentality is already 100%, and I prepare every time. For me, my opponent is no problem. I prepare 100%. My mentality is 100%, and I won,” Allazov said.
After the shocking second-round knockout, many question of what comes next will be asked of the new king. There are several possibilities for the Gridin Gym standout, including a cross-sport battle with ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Champion Tawanchai PK.Saenchai or a showdown with ONE Lightweight Kickboxing and Muay Thai World Champion Regian Eersel.
If Tawanchai is a possibility, it would likely have to be in kickboxing, according to Allazov. He has competed in Muay Thai before, but his focus is on his chosen sport – and he welcomes the Thai to come and try to take his gold.
“Maybe Tawanchai wants to come to my weight, and fight with me in kickboxing, no problem. Welcome! I say, I like this. This is welcome, I said it before,” Allazov said.
Featherweight may be the deepest division in all of combat sports, and Allazov knows he has many challengers waiting in the wings, but there isn’t a clear-cut contender.
That said, he does have an old rival’s name in his mind for the first shot at his ONE gold.
“My division has many fighters. I said before, Sitthichai is one of the best kickboxers in the world. Really. Before he was a pound-for-pound kickboxer,” Allazov said.
For me, Sitthichai is better than Marat Grigorian and better than [Giorgio] Petrosyan, better than Superbon. I said this before. This is another style. Sitthichai and Superbon are other types of fighters. I have big respect for Sitthichai. I have big respect for Superbon. But now I think Sitthichai will fight with Grigorian and whoever wins will face me.”