Jauncey: “If I beat Petrosyan, I deserve a title shot”

Giorgio Petrosyan (81-2-1, 35 KO’s) is already a living legend in kickboxing. At the age of 29, ‘Il Doctore’ (‘The Doctor’) has cemented his legacy as one of the best fighters ever to participate in the sport. Prior to meeting Andy Ristie at GLORY 12 NEW YORK in November 2013 he had lost just once in over 80 fights and had never been knocked out.

Ristie changed all that. He stopped Petrosyan with a crunching left hand which shocked the kickboxing world a much as it did the Armenian-Italian. Petrosyan subsequently took a year out to heal a broken hand sustained in the fight. He returned to completion at the start of 2015 and has gone 3-0 since, though only the middle opponent Enriko Kehl had a name with any recognition value.

Prior to the meeting with Ristie, fans and writers talked of Petrosyan as being “untouchable” and having “near-perfect defense”. Fast-forward to the present day and The Doctor has question marks hanging over him for the first time in his career. Many people consider his aura to have been punctured, if not blown away. One of them is Josh Jauncey (23-5, 12 KO’s); the young Canadian faces Petrosyan at GLORY 25 MILAN on Friday.

“Of course this is a winnable fight. Especially for me. I can do everything Petrosyan does, plus more. I have a much bigger arsenal than him. He is very good at what he does, there is no denying that, but they are the same things all the time,” he says.

“We have seen some weaknesses in him now and I think after this fight [with me] you are going to see a lot more people beating him, if I don’t retire him. But he might also have a few fights left in him after this and that will leave the door open for a rematch and that will allow me to prove my point to anyone who says the first win is a fluke. We will see.

“A new generation always comes along to topple the previous one, that is the story of the fight game and that is what I am to Petrosyan. Muhammad Ali was the new generation, Mike Tyson was the new generation, Rob Kaman was the new generation. Giorgio was the new generation in the lightweight division, he kind of toppled [my friend and coach] Andy Souwer, and now it’s time for a new one.”

There was a time that Petrosyan was the division’s de facto champion, back when winning the annual K-1 MAX Grand Prix conferred that status due to the absence of a fixed championship title at lightweight (70kgs/155lbs). Petrosyan also won the first GLORY lightweight grand prix and now that GLORY has a formal World Lightweight Championship, Jauncey believes a win over Petrosyan should confer a title shot.

“If I beat him, I feel like I am the best. He beat the current champion and beat him quite decisively at that. If I beat Petrosyan I think I deserve a title shot. If you beat Giorgio Petrosyan you should get a title shot,” he says.

Jauncey would have had a title shot on this Friday’s card had he won the GLORY 22 FRANCE Lightweight Contender Tournament. Instead he was beaten in the tournament final by Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong and it is the Thai who will challenge Robin van Roosmalen for his lightweight belt in the main event.

“I am going to beat Petrosyan and there is no doubt in my mind that I beat Sitthichai in a rematch. I didn’t prepare for Sitthichai at all prior to that tournament. I was preparing for was Niclas Larsen and then I didn’t even get to fight him,” fumes Jauncey.

“I had two changes to my semi-final opponent before that tournament. My training focused on that first fight because that is your only definite fight of the evening. We had a quick look at Kiria and Sitthichai but that was all. If you give me a full training camp, I can beat Sitthichai, 100%.”

In the meantime Jauncey’s focus is entirely on Petrosyan this Friday. Born in London but raised in Vancouver, Canada, Jauncey was trained from a young age by his kickboxing champion father. His childhood heroes were all kickboxers and Petrosyan in particular was a focus from an early age. Jauncey, 22, has spent over a third of his life watching him.

“Bear in mind, I have been watching Petrosyan since I was 14 years old, every single fight he has had. I know him intimately. He has never watched me until recently, nobody ever heard of me until I watched GLORY. He has not been studying me the way that I have been studying him. I know him inside out,” he asserts.

“And I’m not facing the best Petrosyan ever, that was a few years ago, whereas I am not the best now that I will be, I am still rising. This is the beginning for me: I am 22 years old with eight professional fights. I am constantly getting better. What he sees in previous fights will not be what he sees on Friday. We are very confident of a win.

GLORY 25 MILAN takes place this Friday at the PalaIper Arena in Monza, Milan, Italy. The headline slot features Robin van Roosmalen defending his World Lightweight Championship against #1 contender Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong of Thailand.

The card also features a four-man Welterweight Contender Tournament between Karim Ghajii, Murthel Groenhart, Yoann Kongolo and Nicola Gallo, with the winner going forward to challenge Nieky ‘The Natural’ Holzken for his GLORY World Welterweight Championship at GLORY 26 AMSTERDAM next month.