Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis won his professional boxing debut against former four-division boxing champion Roy Jones Jr. in a majority decision at Gamebred Boxing 4 in Milwaukee, where the fight card featured many UFC veterans and former champions, including Vitor Belfort, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Jose Aldo, Jeremy Stephens, Gina Mazany, and Pearl Gonzalez.
On Saturday, former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis made his professional boxing debut, taking on former four-division boxing champion Roy Jones Jr in the Gamebred Boxing 4 main event. While many questioned why Jones was allowed to fight a debuting boxer, his credentials spoke for themselves, having won titles in at least four different weight classes and holding an overall record of 66-9 going into the fight.
Pettis, on the other hand, had a career in mixed martial arts and had only applied his boxing skills within that sport. However, despite being 20 years younger and in better physical condition than Jones, Pettis held a significant boxing advantage, having trained for decades to apply the skill to MMA.
In the end, Pettis proved his prowess in the ring, earning a majority decision in the eight-round bout against Jones. While one judge scored the fight a draw, the other two saw it decisively in Pettis’s favor, with scores of 77-75 and 78-74. The win showed Pettis’s potential as a professional boxer despite his background in MMA.
The Gamebred Boxing 4 fight card also featured UFC veterans and former champions Vitor Belfort, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Jose Aldo, and Jeremy Stephens, in addition to boxers Gina Mazany and Pearl Gonzalez. Pettis’s professional boxing debut showed the significance of cross-discipline training at an elite level, and while he is a free agent and has stated his desire to move up to 170 pounds in MMA, he has shown potential as a professional boxer moving forward.