Freitas is Back, but is the former Champion Hiding Something?
by
Mario Sergio Lima - Ringside
12/12 - Six thousand fans attended the Ibirapuera Gymnasium, one of the biggest in Sao Paulo, to pull for Acelino Freitas in his long awaited comeback to Brazil (the last time he fought here was against Orlando Soto, in 2001). The night was really well organized by Banner Promotions, very different from the usual fight nights here. Everything was set for a great performance by Freitas, but it was impossible to see the improvements he promised after the training camp in the United States in November. Fernando Saucedo, a journeyman with a record of 16 victories, 3 Defeats and two draws (not a single knockout) came prepared to survive the ten rounds, no matter what and managed to escape Freitas' attacks and even losing a shutout to the former champ, could be considered one of the victorious fighters of the night.
Freitas, 36-1, tried to cut the ring from the beginning, but Saucedo showed great stamina. Being the aggressor, Freitas hunted Saucedo in the ring and in the first, the Argentinean fell down strangely, but nothing was awarded. He did throw good combinations on Freitas in his counter attack, but his lack of punch was evident: Popo never blinked.
The second and third rounds were very much similar. Freitas wasn't too desperate to take Saucedo out and the Argentinean kept running circles, holding Popo in clinches every time he got near. In the fifth round, a good combination thrown by Freitas hurt Saucedo that started the clinching even more frequently, irritating Popo. The challenger was saved by the bell, in what was a major round for Freitas.
The fight started to upset the crowd, which wanted to see a knockout. Freitas landed the occasional combos, but Saucedo was never in danger and kept running and clinching. In the eighth round, Freitas asked the crowd, after some complaints coming from the audience, to cheer for him. The people started shouting in support for the former champion and he got more aggressive, hunting Saucedo down. The Argentinean had a point deducted for holding too much. In the ninth, Freitas dropped Saucedo with a left.
The challenger ran the whole time during the last seconds of the ninth and the tenth round to survive. He had another deduction for holding at the last round, but managed to end on his feet and remain to be knocked out. The judges came to a unanimous decision: 100-88, 100-87 and 100-86 for Freitas.
Popo himself said, after the fight, that the fact that Saucedo ran and hold too much prevented him from knocking the opponent out or "rip his head off" like promised earlier in a press conference, but guaranteed that he will do the necessary adjustments for the match up with Julio Diaz, on April 28th, his premiere on HBO.
Sertao wins and get the WBA Fedelatin title
One of Brazil’s hottest prospects, the featherweight Valdemir "Sertao" Pereira improved his record to 19 wins in 19 fights after beating the experienced Argentinean Pastor Maurin (47-6, 26 KO), a former world title challenger, by unanimous decision after 12 rounds. Sertao out boxed the opponent from the first round to shut him out. All three judges scored it 120 to 106 to the Brazilian.
Pereira was the aggressor from the beginning. Pastor spent most of the time trying to disturb the home fighter by throwing his guard down and sticking his chin for Sertao to hit. Every time the Brazilian put the pressure on him landing some combos, he would run and smile to show
He wasn't hurt. Pereira didn't lose focus and always came forward, throwing a lot of punches and connecting a good amount on his foe.
The fight kept at this pace the whole time. In the seventh, after sticking his chin, Pastor got tagged two times and had to hold Pereira to stay up. In the ninth, Sertao landed three punches that made Maurin touch the mat with his knee, but a knock down wasn't awarded. In the tenth, after clowning too much, the Argentinean had a point deducted. The last two rounds, the experienced fighter tried to go for the knockout, being more aggressive, but Sertao countered him easily every time he threw a punch. Maurin lost another point on the last round to lose a lopsided decision.
After the fight, the Argentinean said that Pereira has a good chance to make it big, but still need to work some points up before challenging for the world title. Sertao said that he would like to fight in the United States by March of next year and plans to challenge for a world title by the end of 2005. He looked really good against Pastor, but his lack of a one punch KO power can make him vulnerable against the top dogs at 126.
Lino Barros trying to get back on track
After losing on points to Danny Batchelder on January 3rd, Lino Barros, a former Olympian decided to step up to cruiserweight, because he was starving himself to make 175. On his second fight at 200, he looked really good and kept his power. He stopped the last minute replacement Marco Antonio Duarte on the third round to improve his record to 20 victories (15 KOs) and 1 loss.
Lino was very aggressive from the first second the bell rang. There was some bad blood between those two fighters (Lino already beat Duarte two times before) and the experienced Duarte (19-17-1, 14 KO) kept teasing him, calling him "ugly boy" during the fight.
Duarte got tagged twice at the first round and was saved by the bell. He managed to land some good counters at Lino on the second, but was hurt after some good body shots. In the third, after a good combination, Duarte was down and couldn't come back. After the fight, he was ok. Lino will fight on United States probably on April next year.
Other Fights on the Card
Carlinhos looking good - Brazilian prospect Carlos "Carlinhos" Oliveira proved why he is the Brazilian featherweight champion. With 8 knockouts in 8 fights, he stopped highly rated veteran Jairo Moura [who beat Acelino Freitas in the amateurs - 12-4 7 KO] in the second round and impressed promoter Art Pelullo, who signed him after the fight. Aggressive, Carlinhos went like a truck against an experienced opponent that badmouthed him three weeks ago after he
won the Brazilian title and hurt Jairo in the first. In the second, he dropped the challenger three times and was awarded a TKO. He should be fighting in the USA in January, on ESPN, according to Pelullo.
Adailton wins in a mismatch - Another prospect that wanted to impress Pelullo, however failed because of a bad mismatch. The lightweight Adailton de Jesus (11-0, 11KOs) beat up the Argentinean Gustavo Diaz to knock him out in the second round after a savage 1-2 punch combination to the jaw. The problem is that the Argentinean was too weak, so Pelullo wasn’t impressed, but Adailton did show some good skills that can grant him a match on the United States.
Luciano shut Bispo out - Light welterweight Luciano Silva (3-1, 2 KO) needed a victory to comeback after being defeated on the under card of Freitas-Corrales this past August. He completely dominated the experienced Antonio Carlos Bispo (8-4, 5 KOs) to win a unanimous decision (60-54, 59-55 and 60-54). That was his first match in Brazil, and he expects to come back winning in the USA. He did what he needed and got Bispo hurt and bleeding thru
his nose, but wasn't that impressive in victory.
Good show on debuts at light middleweight - Antonio Tintillo won his debut against Freitas friend Valnei Santos, another fighter on his debut. Both fighters showed good heart and alternated moments on the fight. Tintillo won after four round because Valnei had a point deducted for low blows in the first round and was knocked down with a counter right in the
second round. The judges scored a majority decision win for Tintillo (38-37, 39-36, 38-38).
Exciting featherweight prospects battle it out - On the most exciting fight of the night, both boxers making their debuts, Aldimir Santos, a highly regarded amateur (won the two tournaments he fought this year) stopped Freitas stable mate Anderson "Manhozo" Vinicius on the third round. The first round was aggressive, but the second round was fantastic. Both guys were hurt and ready to fall two times each, they just started trading blows Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward style with no defensive concerns. In the third, Aldimir got Manhozo on the ropes and hit him clean with 13 unanswered blows to the head before the corner throw in the towel.
Discuss this at our Boxing Forum
