Freitas Return Ensures an Explosive December.

Former undefeated super featherweight and lightweight champion Acelino Freitas will reassume his career in his native Brazil on December the 11th. An opponent for Freitas is yet to be determined but the appearance will give the boxing world an opportunity to gauge exactly how affected he has been by his dramatic loss to Diego Corrales earlier this year. Furthermore, Freitas’s reputation as an entertaining and aggressive puncher may have been tainted considerably by the way he walked away from the fight with Corrales after being floored several times by the American. Fan reaction to Freitas in Brazil will not likely be an accurate measure of his current popularity but the reaction from American and European audiences and the mainstream boxing press could weigh heavily in his future ventures.

Nonetheless, Freitas’s return fight is likely to be an emphatic knockout victory in kind with the majority of his victories to date and such a happening seems destined to set a trend due to the nature of the other high-profile fights of that momentous day. Vitali Klitschko will defend his WBC heavyweight championship against Britain’s hard-hitting Danny Williams and newly-crowned WBO light welterweight champion Miguel Cotto will defend his title against the former holder of that title, American Randall Bailey.

This incredible doubleheader will take place in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. The Klitschko-Williams fight represents the last heavyweight business of the year, the deciding of the most credible title at the weight and the most entertaining collision of all of the heavyweight title fights of the year. Puerto Rico’s Cotto makes the first defense of his title against the rugged and explosive veteran Bailey in the main undercard attraction to Klitschko-Williams. Many are tipping Cotto to not only emerge as the future of the light welterweight division but as one of the leading lights of boxing’s future as a whole; this fight is a sure indication that Cotto is willing to accept the toughest challenges.

Finally, the announcement of the light heavyweight showdown between the IBF champion Glen Johnson and consensus pick as the best fighter at the weight, Antonio Tarver, ensures that we will see out 2004 in style. Both fighters share the incredibly rare distinction of having knocked out Roy Jones Jr. this year and their fight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles this year on December the 18th is the logical fight to decide the divisions premier fighter.