NO SOONER had Fightnewz.net gone live with an exclusive interview with Pajonsuk previewing his December 11 fight against Giorgio Petrosyan than It's Showtime announced that Petrosyan has withdrawn through injury.

The Italian-Armenian has been unable to recover in time after re-injuring his hand in making a successful defence of the K-1 Max title in Japan and will be replaced by fellow two-time Max champion Andy Souwer, who he has beaten twice.

Souwer and Pajonsuk were supposed to meet in Amsterdam last May but the Dutchman had to pull out to undergo eye surgery.

Pajonsuk is coming off a K-1 Max debut win over Woo Yong Choi while in his last fight Souwer was outpointed by Toby Imada in the Shootboxing World Tournament semi-finals after stopping Bovy Sor Udomsorn at the quarter-final stage.

The fight takes place on the undercard of the It's Showtime kickboxing event in the Greek capital which is headlined by the 70 kilogram world title fight between champion Murat Direkci and challenger Chris Ngimbi.