Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Boxing - Jose Aldo (right) lands on Jeremy Stephens
Gamebred Boxing 4: Jose Aldo and Jeremy Stephens go to battle in rematch that results in a draw
Gamebred Boxing comes to us tonight, April 1, 2023, for Gamebred Boxing 4, going down live from Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Headlining the event is an epic clash of boxing versus mixed martial arts when former four-division world champion (WBA, WBC, IBF, IBO, WBF, IBA, & Ring Magazine) Roy Jones Jr faces former WEC & UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in the main event of the evening, which is to be contested in the cruiserweight (200 lbs) division.
Co-headlining the event is also a pair of world champions, as former UFC heavyweight tournament winner and former UFC light-heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort faces former Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza, which is also to be a cruiserweight contest.
But before the main and co-main events we had our feature fight of the evening, a welterweight (147 lbs) showdown between former WEC & UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo and the man that boasts the second-most knockdowns in UFC history, Jeremy Stephens.
This six-round bout between Aldo and Stephens was a rematch of their first encounter that went down in 2018; after Stephens hurt Aldo badly early on in round one, Aldo rebounded to secure the knockout victory at 4:19 of the opening round with a nasty shovel hook to the body.
Now they faced off once again in the boxing ring.
Continue reading to see how this epic rematch went down:
Official Result: Jose Aldo vs Jeremy Stephens results in a majority draw (58-56 57-57 57-57)
Just as was evident in their first fight, Stephens is the bigger party of the two. He opens up the bout with a lot of volume, trying to find a home for his jab, and not long thereafter his hooks. Aldo is the quicker man, and he is able to establish his jab through the opening stretch.
Aldo finds a home for that same left hook to the body he finished Stephens with five years ago about one minute into round two. He really starts to open up with his combinations in this round, still fighting behind his jab, and landing his hard right hand at will.
The former champion stunned Stephens twice with it in the second, he seemingly can’t miss with that right.
After a similar third round, though it was closer, Stephens is able to find much more success in the fourth.
Stephens opens up the round with a heavy pace, he’s landing more and he keeps the pace throughout round four. Aldo counters him a number of times, one of which came from a beautiful right uppercut, but this was a much better round for Stephens.
Round five is also very close with each man having a considerable amount of success.
The sixth and final round too was quite close; Stephens was backing Aldo up early on as it appeared Aldo was fading, but Aldo mustered up the energy to back Stephens up with combinations of his own in the second half of the round.
The two just start swinging in the final seconds, most of Aldo’s punches and a couple of Stephens’ getting through.
Though it’s anticlimactic, a draw was warranted after these six rounds were complete. Aldo clearly won two rounds, though he could’ve won as many as four. That being said, giving Stephens three rounds isn’t criminal.
Perhaps a trilogy bout is on the horizon?
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