Johan Ghazali credits fighting success to this sport: “95 percent of successful people play”

Inside the ring, Johan “Jojo” Ghazali is a finishing machine — explosive, fearless, and built for highlights. Off it, the 19-year-old Malaysian-American flyweight Muay Thai star has found a completely different outlet: golf.

It started as a calculated networking move but turned into a full-blown obsession that follows him to Thailand. There, he trains under ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Champion Superbon.

He rents a set of clubs on weekends and slips away from camp alone. He also spends a few hours on the course with his phone switched off and his mind clear. For a fighter known for relentless pressure and devastating elbows, it’s an unlikely reset — but one that Ghazali swears by.

The sport hooked him almost immediately, from the moment he accepted a last-minute invitation to join a business contact for a casual round. What he expected to be a relaxed afternoon turned into a revelation about how difficult the game actually is.

“I started playing golf because 95 percent of successful people play golf and all the people I want to be connected with play it, too,” Ghazali said. “So the first time, I was supposed to meet with this guy and he was playing golf on that day, and I said, why not? Let’s go play golf. And then I tried it and I honestly fell in love with it. I genuinely love the sport.”

Johan Ghazali finds mental clarity on the course between Muay Thai camps

Golf has a way of humbling even the most competitive athletes, and Ghazali is no exception. He walked onto the course expecting an easy afternoon. But he walked off with a new respect for a sport he had previously written off as something for older, slower people.

The reality of aligning your head, body, swing, clubface, and focus in one fluid motion — under no pressure except your own expectations — hit harder than he anticipated.

But beyond the challenge, Ghazali has found a mental benefit that directly feeds back into his fight game. The ability to zone in completely, block out everything external, and trust the process mirrors exactly what elite Muay Thai demands inside the ring.

He sees the two disciplines as complementary. His Muay Thai training builds the physical power that drives his swing. Golf sharpens the mental clarity he brings into every fight camp. It’s a two-way exchange that the teenager has leaned into fully, and one he plans to carry into the next chapter of his career long after the fight lights dim.

“Some days you’re playing like Tiger Woods, the next day you have an off day that you regret even playing,” Ghazali said. “But I still do enjoy it. I don’t think I’m going to be doing Muay Thai when I’m much older. But golf, it’s like a muscle memory sport. So, you naturally can play it much longer.”