DESPITE being busy with his own career as a professional Muay Thai athlete and coach, Nidal Mahmoud – elder brother to Malaysia’s ONE Super Series talent Mohammed Bin Mahmoud – has devoted extra time to ensure his sibling leaves the ring in Jakarta, Indonesia with nothing but a victory on Friday, 3 May.
Nidal, 24, believes sacrificing time off his career path has allowed him a chance to create a stronger bond with the ONE Championship athlete, something that has bloomed over the past four weeks.
“We hardly spend much time training together these days, but ever since his last outing in Japan, I told him that I’ll put my career on hold to help him improve his game,” Nidal explained.
“I trained so hard with him throughout this camp. We’ve suffered a lot of pain and some small injuries, but I believe we can succeed in our mission.
“The atmosphere this time is different [compared to Japan], but we’ll see how it goes. I’ve never seen him in such better mode, and his eyes show that he wants only a win.”
Since capping a perfect debut at ONE: Destiny of Champions in Kuala Lumpur last December, “Jordan Boy” has found himself in an unfortunate slump of two defeats.
That, however, did not break his spirit, and this is why Nidal thinks this is the perfect time to enter the picture.
In short, the 24-year-old Muay Thai practitioner described Mohammed’s upcoming bantamweight clash against Andrew Miller at ONE: For Honor this coming Friday as a “do or die” bout.
“I told myself to make this small sacrifice because I care for him very much,” Nidal said.
“Even during sparring, he goes 100%. At most gyms, sparring is done at about 50%, but I want to build that hunger and confidence in him again.
“I’m the biggest critic of his style, and I will never give up on him until he becomes a World Champion.”
The brothers have also spent a good day or two trying to execute a strategy to defeat the Thailand-based Miller at ONE’s upcoming spectacle.
After a thorough study, Nidal believes Mohammed will emerge victorious and may even leave the ring with a stoppage win.
“We’ve analyzed his fights, and although Miller has lost a lot by knockout, it won’t be easy. We discovered that he has a glass chin, but we are not going to create a game plan based on that,” he explained.
“I don’t want to promise anyone that he is coming for a knockout, but I just want my brother to get back to his winning ways. I want the win, and I’m certain he can do it.”
