FOLLOWING his King in the Ring win, Ōpōtiki fighter Michael Isaac is going for a world title with a planned fight against Cambodian champion Tanh Makara in Hamilton next week.

“Winning King of the Ring made me known all over New Zealand, but winning a world title would take it to a new level – everybody knows what a world champion is,” Isaac said.

Going up against Makara, who has more than 100 fights to his name, will be his hardest fight yet.

Isaac said he had watched videos of Makara fighting to get “a rough idea” of what to expect and was feeling confident.

“I back myself, especially after winning King in the Ring, and I trust my coach and my training. On the day, the rest is up to me,” he said.

Now based in Hamilton, the 26-year-old fighter has prepared for his “Knees of Fury” fight by adding new elements to his training.

“These are old-school forms of training, going back to the roots of Muay Thai training,” he said.

Longer rounds, clinch rounds, working neck weights to prevent his head getting pulled down into a knee in the clinch, hard pad rounds and hard sparring are all included in the preparation.

Coach Ethan Shepp said Isaac would be the first Kiwi to fight for the World Kun Khmer Federation (WKF) title.

“We had the option of the World Kick Boxing Federation title or the WKF and we chose the Kun Khmer … and look forward to going back to Cambodia to defend it in the future,” he said.

“We searched around the world to find the hardest, most talented champion available; in comes Cambodian champion Tanh Makara.”

The fight will take place at the Hamilton YMCA on Saturday, November 16.

WORLD TITLE: Michael Isaac is going for a muythai world title. /supplied/ Michael Isaac