Having signed with Bellator Kickboxing in October of last year, ‘John’ Wayne Parr has confirmed that he will be making his debut for the promotion in April and is hoping to be matched with Italian kickboxing superstar Giorgio Petrosyan.
Upon receiving the award for Male Fighter of the Year at the recent Australian Muay Thai Awards, Parr announced to those in attendance that he would finally be making his debut on an upcoming show in Italy. While his opponent is yet to be named, Parr has Italian kickboxing superstar Petrosyan firmly in his sights.
“Petrosyan is the man to beat for any 155lbs fighter in the world. He is a superstar in Italy, so it makes sense if they match me with him” Parr told Fight News Australia.
Having won both the 2009 and 2010 K1 Max titles, Petrosyan has become a household name in kickboxing and muay thai. With an impressive record of 89 fights for 83 wins and at only 31 years of age, Petrosyan still has plenty to offer the fight game. Having moved over from Glory Kickboxing to Bellator last year, Petrosyan made his debut in Florence in December defeating strong UK fighter Jordan Watson by TKO.
At 40 years of age and showing no signs of slowing down, Parr is coming off a dominant win against Canadian fighter Matthew Richardson in December on his own Caged Muay Thai promotion. With 127 fights and 95 wins to his name, Parr is not only a legend in Australian muay thai, but still one of the biggest names in both kickboxing and muay thai worldwide.
“At 40 years old I still want to prove that I am one of the best fighters on the planet. I will be going in to win of course, but as long as I give the crowd a fight they won’t forget, I’ll be happy”.
While having both fought in K1 Max and winning numerous world titles in kickboxing and muay thai, Parr and Petrosyan have never faced each other. The prospect of a fight between the two represents a potential dream matchup for fans. Petrosyan is due to fight in February on the W5 Grand Prix in Russia, while Parr is looking to get a warmup fight in before the potential clash in April.
