On Saturday at Fiserv Forum, local and international fighters will compete in a boxing event that’s being headlined by former UFC champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, and boxing legend Roy Jones Jr.
The event is called Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Boxing 4. Pettis, who’s 36 years old, is a Milwaukee native and an active MMA fighter. Jones' last fight was an exhibition match against Mike Tyson in 2020.
At a pre-fight press conference held yesterday, WUWM asked Pettis about his return to fighting in front of a home crowd. In 2013, Pettis won the UFC Lightweight Championship in Milwaukee. It’s rare for the city to host a combat sporting event of this caliber.
"It's amazing timing, honestly — 10 years later in a totally different place in life," Pettis said. "To see what the city's done and the Bucks have done — the growth of this place. When I was fighting last time, it wasn't like this so it's cool to see the growth of the city and it's an honor to be here to perform in front of my city and fighting one of the legends in boxing. It's a dream come true, like the fight gods blessed me with this one."
WUWM asked Roy Jones, Jr., who’s 54 years old, why he decided to return to professional boxing at this time. "When you were offered this fight, what are the things that you considered before accepting it," WUWM's Eddie Morales asked.
"My birth certificate and my weight," Jones replied.
Jones said meeting Pettis at 200 pounds will serve as a model for the fighters he trains.
"All my life I always wanted to be an example," he said. "That's pretty much what else got me to take this fight because you have to understand what he's doing. He's promoting a fight this week, and he's fighting next week."
Jones is talking about Masvidal, who is promoting the event and preparing for his own fight at UFC 287 next weekend.
"Nobody would tell you to do anything like that because it's different," Jones continued. "So that's what really got my attention. But at the same time, I did know that there were a lot of things against me too, like the birth certificate, the weight. You got to consider the reality of what it is. So I had to consider those things first, and I thought about it like this — if I show at 54 that I can still dedicate myself to a training camp and get myself back down to weight, it's going to say a lot to my fighters. They can't give me no more excuses because if I can do it at 54, what’s their problem?"
The fight card Saturday also features Wisconsin’s own Luis Feliciano and Javier Zamarron, who both are undefeated in their professional boxing careers.
