(Author: Chandra Moulee Das)
In his professional boxing debut, in the main event of Gamebred Boxing 4, Anthony Pettis faced Roy Jones Jr, and won by majority decision. Fighting in front of his hometown Milwaukee crowd, and fighting against a lot of experience from his 54-year-old foe – Pettis looked confident exchanging punches with one of the most talented boxers of the last half-century.
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While Jones seemed to land the cleaner punches, Pettis had more punches and was constantly marching forward, throwing his combinations in succession. When it was over, two judges gave the victory to Pettis, with scores of 77-75 and 78-74, with the third referee handing out a score of 76-76, which resulted in the majority decision.
Speaking about Jones, Pettis said: “He’s a legend of the sport. I’ll take it one fight at a time. I’m 1-0 as a pro, so I’m excited to see what the future holds. I had a great team behind me and I wanted it.”
Despite many disadvantages in the fight, Pettis was more than happy to trade punches with the boxing legend, showing fast hands with all combinations starting behind his initial jab.
Pettis also took aim at the body when he began to dig in with straight punches and uppercuts that caught Jones’ attention. While Pettis tried to control the center of the ring, Jones just sat back and waited to throw his best punches, which included a powerful left hook that hit the former UFC champion’s chin. But Pettis remained the more active fighter, continually going after Jones, with many of his best punches landing to the body.
Over the course of eight rounds, Jones seemed to land better and better overall punches, but sometimes he was so inert that Pettis was able to attack him, which ended up making the difference with the judges. Pettis’ actions carried him to victory, even when Jones seemed to block many of his best punches. In the end, the legend simply didn’t do enough to sway the decision in his favor.