Andre Pederneiras: Negotiations ‘Really Advanced’ for Jose Aldo-Floyd Mayweather Bout

According to Andre Pederneiras, the wheels are in motion for a boxing showdown between Jose Aldo and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

During a backstage interview with Sherdog.com at UFC 283, the Nova Uniao coach stated that Aldo was already negotiating for an international fight that would follow his debut against Argentina native Emmanuel Zambrano under the Shooto Brazil Boxing banner on Feb. 10. Pederneiras’ statement led to speculation that Aldo could be close to facing the biggest name in Brazilian boxing, four-time world champion Acelino Popo Freitas, who had been using social media to challenge the former UFC featherweight champion for a long time. Instead, Aldo revealed the suprise opponent to media shortly after he defeated Zambrano via unanimous decision last week.

“Negotiations are progressing for me to fight Mayweather in June or July,” Aldo said.

Shortly after that announcement, Sherdog contacted Pederneiras, who serves as co-manager of Aldo, to see if the proposed fight had a real chance of taking place.

“Negotiations are really advanced,” Pederneiras said. “We hope to have the contract signed before Aldo's next fight with Jeremy Stephens on April 1. We don't have a month decided yet but we already know that the fight will take place in Abu Dhabi.”

Pederneiras also said that the Brazilian fans’ dream fight of Aldo vs. Popo can still happen — just not yet.

“We have great respect for Popo, who is a great national idol, and for everything he represents for Brazilian boxing. But as a manager I have to look out for the best interests of my athlete, and this fight with Mayweather is huge,” he said. “Unfortunately, there are some insane people on the internet in Brazil saying that Aldo is scared. Something like that doesn't even deserve a response. Today we have something much bigger to negotiate, but who knows if in the future this matchup happens.”

Aldo is slated to meet Stephens under the Gamebred Boxing banner at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisc., on April 1 in a six-round boxing match.