Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion Anthony Pettis will be making his professional boxing debut tomorrow night (Sat., April 1, 2023) at Gamebred Boxing 4 live on UFC Fight Pass, PPV.com from inside Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but “Showtime” will do so at a whopping 200 pounds.
Pettis will be matched up against legendary boxer Roy Jones Jr. in the main event. It will be Pettis’ first trip to the boxing ring after a 16-year mixed martial arts (MMA) career and Jones’ first boxing bout since a unanimous decision win over Scott Sigmon back in Feb. 2018. Jones turned 54 years of age this past January while Pettis turned 36.
Pettis, who parted ways with UFC back in late 2020, has not found great success outside of the Octagon since then. Through five fights under the Professional Fighters League (PFL) banner “Showtime” has posted a dismal 1-4 record. Switching over to the sport of boxing should allow Pettis to start fresh and possibly claim a victory over one of the most famous boxers of all time.
Ahead of Saturday’s matchup, Pettis and Jones tipped the scale for official weigh ins. After Jones weighed in at 199.1 pounds it was Pettis’ turn. The former UFC lightweight champion — who has also competed in the featherweight and welterweight divisions — came in at a staggering 198.5. It’s by far the heaviest we’ve ever seen Pettis for a fight.
The former UFC champion revealed earlier this week that he was bulking up for a clash with Anderson Silva at 185 pounds inside of the Octagon before “Spider” stepped away from the sport. It helped Pettis gain body mass ahead of his boxing match with Jones Jr. this weekend.
“That’s one I was supposed to get in the UFC right before he retired. He got Uriah Hall, actually,” Pettis told RedCorner MMA in regards to a missed chance to fight Silva. “That was discussed. I called him out. He accepted. UFC didn’t allow it at that time they wanted him to fight Uriah Hall.”
You can check out the side-by-side-by-side-by-side photo breakdown above and below. How do you think Pettis looks?
Anthony Pettis weighing in at 145, 155, 170, 198 pic.twitter.com/wtSIa8fXE2
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) March 31, 2023
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