Denis Puric: Takeru’s “Chin Is Very Weak”, Will “Turn His Lights Out” at ONE 173

Denis Puric is not daunted by the moment that awaits him at ONE 173 in Tokyo when he clashes with a massive Japanese star. Puric clashes with Takeru, and when speaking to his gamesmanship, fighting someone who’s not just of such a high caliber but also on their home turf here, Denis Puric said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“Yes, sir. Yeah, I’m excited, man. Most of my fights, like I said before; most of my fights have been on enemy territory is what I call it. So, you know, nothing new to me. I’m excited for the fight. I’m excited to perform in front of the Japanese fans.”

Denis Puric eyes beating takeru in proper fashion to then secure a title shot

Takeru also expects an explosive encounter here as he sees Puric as an incredibly aggressive fighter who loves to trade shots. When offering up a response to that from his next adversary, Denis Puric stated [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“Yeah. Well, he should be [laughs]. He should be. Yeah, I’m bringing in, you know, a lot of aggressiveness and you know, Takeru is no slouch either. So, I’m excited for a war, man. I know be it’s going to be a war. So, looking forward to that.”

When asked how much of a feather in his cap it would it be to gain a victory over a former K1 champion, Denis Puric quipped [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“Oh yeah, I mean, this fight means, you know, one of the biggest fights of my career for sure. I’m looking to go in there and, you know, showcase my skill and hopefully dominating the fight. Coming out with the W because I am; my eyesight’s on that title next. You know, I’m sure if I beat Takeru in fashion that I will get that shot hopefully.”

Puric aims to rock “freaking legend” Takeru early to get him out of there at ONE 173

In terms of his methodology for the machinations of this match-up at ONE 173 with the Japanese superstar, Denis Puric said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“Yeah. again, Takeru is a freaking legend, you know. Super high pace fighter. Super fast. I know he’s going to bring that speed. I know he’s going to try to go for my body, considering I’ve been dropped. My last two fights, I’ve been dropped with the body shot. That’s something I’ve been working on. Fixing those mistakes, making sure it doesn’t happen. I also didn’t recover very well from the first; I lost to Elias Mahmoudi to a body shot.”

“Really ripped my body up into pieces, because you know a taller guy, every time I came in, I would be eating knees and stuff like that. Then I fought maybe like four months right after that. Three or four months right after that, and I wasn’t fully recovered, and I got dropped with the body shot again. So now, you know, I’ve had about six months to work on it. I healed up properly, been working on the core, strengthening up the body really well.”

“So, making sure that doesn’t happen again. I know what Takeru’s strengthes and weaknesses [are]. I feel like again that his strengths are going to be the speed. He’s going to try to do the body, the the toe stabs, or whatever you call those kicks. They have a name for it, and I know he’s going to try to do the the calf kicks as well. That’s literally all that I see from him. He doesn’t have much power, but he is very fast.”

“So, he’s going to be probably doing a lot of that pitter patter s**t where it does, you know, it does wear you out as the fight goes on. So, my plan is just to go in there and just turn his lights out. You know, I know I’m going to touch him. Doesn’t have his; I feel like his chin is very weak. So, and the way he fights his guard is very open. So, I feel like I just got to go in there. I got to touch him, and pretty sure I’m going to rock him early.”

Addressing some of the recent rhetoric about Takeru being defensively vulnerable, chinny, or whatever wording one would want to use in that kind of regard, Denis Puric stated [via Bowks Talking Bouts],

“Yeah, of course. I’m going to wear that chin down and I’m eventually going to shut his lights off. Yeah. So, I’m not going to let him; not going to let him do too much work because again, he’s younger. He’s got more stamina than me. I gotta just basically blitz and just use my footwork.”

“In and out a lot, making sure I don’t get hit while I’m outside and blitz when I come inside. You know, the kicks are out the window. So, he’s going to have boxing left. His boxing is not the greatest. I feel like I have better boxing than him. I feel like I have more power than him. And, I think that’s where, it’s going to play out.”