Takeru Segawa is one of the brightest stars in all of kickboxing. The Japanese talent will make his ONE Championship debut on Sunday, January 28, and immediately get thrown into the fire. Takeru will challenge Superlek Kiatmoo9 for the ONE Flyweight Kickboxing World Title at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
But his journey to the top was not quick. Growing up surrounded by nature, Takeru always envisioned a future bigger than himself. The dream of ascending to the top of the kickboxing mountain happened when he first saw it on television.
“I had always dreamed of becoming a Kickboxing Champion when I was a child. I was watching K-1 on TV, and I saw a lot of karate practitioners, and I admired them. I thought if I did karate, maybe I could enter K-1. I always wanted to do kickboxing, but there were no kickboxing gyms in the neighborhood when I was a kid, so I started karate when I was in second grade,” Takeru told ONE.
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“The Natural Born Crusher” doubted how he could make it a career. Thus, he enrolled in high school to pursue other careers. Three months into his academic tenure, he was expelled as he fell into the wrong crowd. But once he left, doors opened to pursue his passion.
“I was expelled from school, and there was nothing left for me to do. During that time, I didn’t do martial arts, and I was just fooling around, but because I couldn’t go to high school, I felt I had no option but to succeed in martial arts, so I made up my mind. I found a kickboxing gym and practiced there for the first time, and I saw I could finally do what I wanted to do. I remember I felt very happy about it,” the Japanese star recalled.
Enlivened by his kickboxing dreams, he stopped hanging around bad influences because it directly impacted his training. Wanting to take the next step in his career, Takeru relocated and enhanced his skills in a foreign land. Once he arrived in Thailand, he realized his calling could also be his career.
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“I saved all the money myself to go to Thailand. My mother was kind of strict. Since I was a kid, I was told that if I had something I wanted to do, I had to do it on my own – otherwise, it meant nothing. While I was in Japan, I used to do martial arts because I liked it, so it was more like a hobby for me. But after I went to Thailand, I found that all my teammates at the gym were doing it for a living. They were about my age and still in high school, but still, they were fighting to support their families, and it changed my view about martial arts,” the flyweight said.
On January 28, in front of a supercharged Japanese audience, Takeru can claim the sport’s biggest prize. With Superlek at the top of many pound-for-pound lists, the challenge excites the 32-year-old even more. Arriving in ONE is the culmination of his hard work, and the only thing left is to leave it all in the ring once the bell sounds.
“ONE Championship is the organization where many champions and strong fighters from all over the world get together. Because this organization has all the strong fighters, I always wanted to fight there myself someday. I was genuinely happy when I got the contract. Of course, becoming the World Champion in ONE is the thing I’ve been aiming for. I want to win and dedicate it to all the fans who have supported me all those years,” Takeru said.
ONE 165 airs live from the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. The event goes down on Sunday, January 28. The action is available on global pay-per-view on watch.onefc.com.
