Shootboxing representative Kenichi Ogata and Super Welterweight titleholder Kaito Ono took to the stage during yesterday’s Shootboxing event to announce the champion’s next fight, versus Enriko Kehl at SHOOT BOXING 2025 act.3 on June 22.
Kaito has been stoically pursuing a rematch with GLORY Lightweight champion Tjyani Beztati since suffering a decision loss at his hands in August of 2023 and has taken out a number of GLORY regulars during this time, most notably Guerric Billet, Dragomir Petrov, Arman Hambaryan, as well as former champion Davit Kiria.
Enriko Kehl has during that same time period beaten Guerric Billet in a GLORY title eliminator, but he ultimately came up short against Tjyani Beztati, who overcame him by unanimous decision, placing Kehl in a similar situation to Kaito. Although the promotion has put the lightweight division on hold for the moment, a victory for either would go a long way to earning another bite at the Moroccan.
Kaito went on to say he had met the ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong who apologized for his words after the Marat Grigorian fight cancellation, with the Japanese fighter stating: “To everyone who was looking forward to the fight, I'm sorry I couldn’t show you the match. I spoke with Chairman Chatri, and he apologized, saying it was 100% their fault. But I believe the only way to resolve this is to settle things completely with Grigorian, so I think we’ll fight someday. When that time comes, I’ll show you a victory, so please look forward to it. And next, I’ll resume where I left off in GLORY. I’m going to defeat the number one contender and go after Beztati’s belt, so stay tuned.”
