Recently retired UFC star Jose Aldo successfully began his boxing career on Friday and afterwards claimed that an exhibition bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr could be in the works for later this year.
The 36-year-old former UFC featherweight champion made his debut against Alberto Emmanuel Zambrano in a six-round bout at Shooto Brazil Boxing, with his unheralded 33-year-old opponent holding just an 0-3 record heading into the event.
With that in mind its no surprise that Aldo was able to boss the action in the ring from start to finish, though he wasn’t able to find a finish and had to settle for a convincing unanimous decision win (60-54 x2, 59-55).
This was always seen as a warm-up fight for Aldo, who just days earlier had already agreed to his second boxing bout, which will see him lock horns with an old foe in fellow ex-UFC fighter Jeremy Stephens at Gamebred Boxing 4 on April 1st.
However, a much bigger fight may be on the horizon if Aldo is to be believed, as yesterday he claimed that talks have already taken place with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s team about an exhibition bout between the two stars.
“[Mayweather’s] side has already agreed, my side too,” Aldo told MMA Fighting. “We’re now waiting for [the promoters] to get the deal done.”
And while these days Mayweather only appears interested in exhibitions rather than putting his proud 50-0 undefeated pro-record on the line, Aldo insists that it would make no difference to him once fists start flying.
“It might be exhibition on [Mayweather’s] side, but not for me,” Aldo said. “It’s punch to the face like always. He knows that.”
