Alex Pereira might be a great light heavyweight champion, defending it four times against top contenders and still coming on top but bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley doesn’t believe he would be a great fit for boxing.
With the rise of Pereira, fans are now speculating about his future – pondering if the Brazilian would stick with the UFC or would transition into boxing for the big bucks.
Well, the latter scenario might be quite daunting for the ‘Poatan’, claims Sean O’Malley.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, the bantamweight king shared his thoughts on the Brazilian after boxing HW, Anthony Joshua said he felt like Pereira should make his boxing HW debut.
O’Malley doesn’t believe Poatan’s style translates well into boxing as he “does a lot of things wrong“.
“He has that nuke in his left hand but it like, dude. he floats his chin a lot, I guess it depends on who he fights.
But then ‘Suga’ also suggested wild, wild fight for the Brazilian.
I think Deontay Wilder also f**king would like like maybe a good matchup for him.”
Now, Pereira does have a hands-down style that focuses on counter-punching. The con of this is, that this style can be exploited by seasoned kickboxers like when Israel Adesanya pulled off a dope a rope against the Brazilian in their second meeting.
Despite wielding the hand of god himself, the 37-year-old’s style exposes his chin at the cost of the ballistic power.
This style doesn’t translate into boxing.
In fact, Pereira’s style, his stance, everything is tuned to his his kickboxing game, and the years of practice and grind in the ring have prepared him for MMA, where you do not necessarily have expert boxers.
But then again, if an opinion about boxing comes from Anthony Joshua, you have to sit down and pay attention. Let the man cook, as the kids say.
AJ wants Poatan to lace up 12 ounce gloves
Besides being a massive superstar in the sport of boxing, British heavyweight, Anthony Joshua is also a keen fan of Mixed Martial Arts.
The former heavyweight champion in fact is also a playable character in the previous UFC video game title and given his pedigree, his opinion is widely respected.
So when AJ suggested that he’d be delighted to see Pereira hang up the smaller UFC gloves in favor of lacing up in the squared circle, every one and their mothers took notice.
“Alex Pereira should make a boxing debut one day.”
Pereira then thanked AJ for his consideration and asked him since he was 37 and could not longer have pro career in boxing, who he should fight. To which the HW said,
“The options are endless champ. I am sure something can be done. Drop 258MGT a line”
Interestingly, Pereira has had his boxing debut kick off with a stellar win in 2017, securing a TKO win against Marcelo de Souza Cruz in Brazil. So, perhaps someday fans will get to see the Poatan ‘sleep’ people inside a boxing ring.
