Boxing Profile: Acelino “Popo” Freitas

Acelino “Popó” Freitas is one of the most accomplished champions currently in the sport. Growing up in impoverished conditions in his native Brazil, Freitas put aside an early interest in soccer and instead chose to pursue boxing as the path to a better life.

Primarily known throughout his career for his aggressive style and fearsome punching power, Freitas began with an extensive amateur career, stacking up an impressive 84-4 record on his way to his first major success in boxing, a silver medal in the 1995 Pan American Games.

Freitas followed that success by turning professional on July 14, 1995 at the age of 19, and immediately began earning his reputation as one of the most dangerous fighters in the sport by knocking out each of his first 29 opponents.

A four time world champion in two weight classes, Freitas won his first on August 7, 1999 with a dramatic first round knock out of the reigning WBO Super Featherweight champion, Anatoly Alexandrov. His destruction of the reigning champion was particularly overwhelming. In less than one round of action, Alexandrov was knocked unconscious for nearly five minutes and eventually removed on a stretcher.

While such success made him a huge celebrity in his native Brazil, a celebrity that rivaled, if not surpassed, that of the legendary Brazilian Bantamweight Eder Jofre, one of Freitas’ childhood heroes, he believed that the respect deserved from the rest of the boxing world, primarily in the United States, was slow in coming.

Hence, after nearly two and a half years and six successful title defenses, the defining fight of his career was arranged in the form of a unification bout against the also unbeaten Joel Casamayor, the reigning WBA Super Featherweight champion.

While a questionable knockdown call and a penalty point, both in Freitas’ favor, added some controversy to the bout, on January 12, 2002 Freitas, bloodied and fatigued, held on to defeat Casamayor by unanimous decision and claim the WBA Super Featherweight title.

In doing so, he finally achieved the level of universal respect and recognition he felt was so long deserved, and solidified his claim as being one of the top champions in the sport by becoming one of only a handful of boxers at the time to concurrently hold multiple world championship belts.

Through 2002 and 2003, Freitas continued his success with three more title defenses before deciding to make the move up in weight and challenge Artur Grigorian for his WBO Lightweight title, which Freitas won by unanimous decision on January 4, 2004.

His reign as Lightweight champion, however, would prove brief as he lost the title in his first attempted defense against Diego Corrales on August, 7, 2004.

Not only did this loss provide the first and, to this time, only blemish on Freitas’ record, it also marked a turning point in his boxing activity. Despite regaining the vacant WBO Lightweight title in a split decision victory over Zahir Raheem on April 29, 2006, the last three years have seen the slowest activity in his professional career, having only three fights since the Corrales loss, and only one in the last 21 months.

Stating that it was always his goal to retire at age 30, Freitas announced his retirement in October 2006, shortly after turning 31. However, as talk of a unification bout and rematch with Casamayor developed, it became clear that his retirement would be short-lived.

Unfortunately for those hoping for such a rematch, prospects died when Casamayor was stripped of his title. Instead, Freitas turned his attention toward a unification bout with the undefeated WBA Lightweight champion, Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz.

At this stage of his career, Freitas provides an extremely attractive target for a young champion attempting to build legitimacy in the sport. A win over Freitas provides instant respect and recognition. Even at age 31, however, it does not come without significant risk. In his career, Freitas boasts a 13-1 record in world title fights, winning 9 of them by KO.

Additionally, since winning his first world title in 1999, Freitas has faced 4 undefeated fighters with a world championship on the line, and has beaten every one of them.

For Freitas, this provides an opportunity to prove that he is still on top of his game and able to compete with the best in the sport, and perhaps most importantly, add to his legacy as one of the greatest Brazilian fighters in the history of boxing.

Acelino “Popó” Freitas brings a record of 38-1 (32 kos) into his title bout against Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz this Saturday, April 28,, to be televised on HBO’s Boxing After Dark.

Freitas was named 2003 Fighter of the Year by the WBA.