Italian Jonathan Di Bella has emerged as one of the most exciting prospects in kickboxing at the age of 26. He will be looking to unleash his full potential at ONE 162 as he challenges for gold in his promotional debut.
In a video recently posted on ONE Championship’s YouTube channel, the man who represents both Italy and Canada recounts his story of how he got into combat.
Watch the full video here:
Born in Montreal, Di Bella started training at the age of two and went on to fight her first fight at the age of 10. His father, three-time world champion kickboxing, opened his own gym when he was 19 years old, where he trained his son to be better than him.
While finding motivation to represent both his countries and try to bring kickboxing to the masses in North America, Di Bella believes he is destined to become a world champion. It was a dream that both he and his father shared.
“Winning this title means the whole world to me and I think my dad will be very happy, I believe it was one of his dreams to see me as world champion.” .
He added:
“My dad was a kickboxing world champion and he trained me better than he did. To win the kickboxing world title with ONE means the world to us”
He grew up watching things he liked Nieky Holzken and Giorgio Petrosyan compete in the ONE Championship. Now, he will have a chance to fulfill his dream and become a world champion when he meets Zhang Peimian for the ONE kickboxing straw world championship was vacated on October 21.
Jonathan Di Bella believes his rival Zhang Peimian is “number one in the world”
On the eve of the fight for the vacant ONE kickboxing straw world championship, Jonathan Di Bella gave his thoughts on rival Zhang Peimian.
In a video posted by ONE Championship on YouTube, the Italian-Canadian boxer talks about the ‘Fighting Rooster’:
“I feel like my rival Zhang is one of the best in the world. I believe he is number one in the world, so I look forward to competing with him and looking forward to rising to the top.”
Peimian will be looking to become China’s youngest world champion at just 19 years old on October 21.
But despite the promise surrounding Peimian, Di Bella believes he has what it takes to fulfill his own dream and claim the ONE Championship gold when the two meet.
“The reason I won this fight is because I’m hungrier, more disciplined and more focused than ever before and I can’t wait to shock the world.”
