Geordie Shore star Aaron Chalmers' baby son Oakley will undergo major head surgery just two days after he faces Floyd Mayweather.
The former Bellator MMA fighter transitioned to boxing after two years of training last year, but has hit multiple snags in his young career due to health issues outside of the ring and missed match-ups in it. However, after a frustrating debut year with just one four-round bout to show for his efforts, he has landed a huge opportunity as a late-notice opponent for Mayweather on February 25.
And he will have his son on his mind when he races home from London the day after his bout with the boxing legend, skipping his beloved Newcastle United's Carabao Cup Final against Manchester United. He will have an intimate celebration at home with family, and on Monday Oakley will undergo another surgery.
"It was a bad year," Chalmers admitted of 2022 to Mirror Fighting . "My son was born and he was in and out of hospital for months and it's still not finished. Two days after the fight he's got major head surgery. Everything I do is for my boys, it's all to make a better future my children, starting with the Floyd fight.
"We'll get that out of the way, then my son's got major head surgery on the Monday and when he's back home safe it'll be straight back into camp and looking for the next fight. When I was down in the dumps at my lowest points I would watch the Conor McGregor documentary and there'd be the Mayweather fight at the end."
Chalmers' son was born in August, weeks after he had made his debut on a Wasserman postlim against journeyman Alexander Zeledon. It was the Brit's first fight since retiring from MMA in February 2020 and would unfortunately become his only one of the year, before he took a last minute call from Mayweather's team to become the opponent for this month's exhibition.
"Honestly, it has been the maddest ten days, two weeks of my life," Chalmers said. "This time two weeks ago when I first got in contact it was a few days later I got the contract and it was announced on the Monday. It's been f***ing crazy, absolutely crazy. Everyone will laugh at this, but I always believed something big was coming.
"Even when I was down in the dumps in December I always used to go to the gym and think 'something's going to happen, something's going to happen'. Well, it doesn't get much bigger than Floyd Mayweather!"
Chalmers spent the best part of two years grinding away from his family in Newcastle down at Adam Booth's gym alongside the likes of Michael Conlan and Kurt Walker, but had multiple fights cancelled due to issues with his or his family's health. And with Conlan in his corner, he will take on the biggest test of his life.
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"I grafted my a*** off at Adam Booth's and I got signed to BOXXER," he explained. "Then I got a blood clot in the nose. A huge hematoma that had to be drained and kind of f***ed up my debut in Newcastle on Savannah Marshall's undercard. That was a setback and then BOXXER never materialised.
"So we got into Wasserman, the fight there I thought was going to be the kickstart but I didn't seem to have any luck, everything seemed to go against me. Even in all of that down moment, fights cancelled and all of this carry on, I was still training, getting up in the morning and I was thinking 'something big's going to come'.
"Towards December I even started questioning myself, thinking 'am I being f***ing crazy?' The lowest point of my life, it was horrendous. But I kept plugging away and then five weeks later here we are. I just will not give up, when I think something's going to come I refuse to give up and that's why I'm in this position.
"For me, this couldn't have come at a better time. It's the start of the year and then that opens the doors for the big boys, the big names in influencer boxing. This puts me right back in the mix with Jake Paul, Tommy Fury, KSI where towards the end of last year I thought they were creeping away from me."
