Acelino Freitas

Acelino Freitas
Freitas in 2006
Statistics
Nickname(s)	Popó
Weight(s)	Lightweight Super featherweight
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Reach	68 in (173 cm)
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	(1975-09-21) September 21, 1975 Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	42
Wins	40
Wins by KO	34
Losses	2
Medal record Men's boxing Representing  Brazil Pan American Games 1995 Mar del Plata Lightweight

Acelino "Popó" Freitas (Portuguese pronunciation: [asɛˈlĩnu pɔˈpɔ ˈfɾejtɐs]; born September 21, 1975) is a Brazilian politician and professional boxer. In the sport, he is a former WBO and WBA (Super) super featherweight champion, as well as a two-time WBO lightweight champion. After retiring from boxing, Freitas went into politics, and was elected as a legislator for the state of Bahia, from 2011 to 2014.^[1]

His nickname, Popó, was given to him by his mother, after the sound that babies make while drinking milk.^[2] Freitas had a difficult childhood, often sleeping on a sandy floor at his house. Since early in his life, he dreamed of a better place to live for his family. A skilled football player, he was more inclined, however, towards the sport of boxing since an early age. Fellow Brazilian Eder Jofre, generally recognized as the greatest world champion to come out of that country, was one of Freitas' childhood heroes.

Amateur career

Freitas competed for his native country and won a lightweight silver medal at the Pan American Games 1995 in Mar del Plata.

Professional career

Early success

After the Pan American Games he turned into a professional boxer on July 14, 1995, against Adriano Jose Soares. With his win by knockout in the first round that night, Freitas set off a streak of 29 knockout wins in a row, which places as one of the longest knockout wins streak in boxing history. His first 10 wins were against low level competition, but for fight number 11, he took on the much more experienced Edwin Vazquez, knocking him out in the seventh round.

Between 1997 and 1998, Freitas won four more fights and then took on Francisco Tomas Da Cruz, a former world title challenger of Julio César Chávez. Freitas handled Da Cruz with a knockout in two rounds and then added three more knockout wins before getting his first world title shot.

First World Title

On August 7, 1999, Freitas knocked out WBO Junior Lightweight Champion Anatoly Alexandrov in the first round. Soon after, he signed a contract with cable TV giant Showtime, which began to telecast Freitas' fights to the United States. Freitas then made five defenses of his world title and had one non-title bout, all of which ended in knockout wins. He then went to London and took only 45 seconds to stop Daniel Alicea in another non-title affair. Freitas then beat the former world champion: Al Kotey, the brother of David 'Poison' Kotei, by a ten-round decision.

Freitas vs Casamayor

On January 12, 2002, Freitas decided to sign for a unification bout with the WBA world champion, Joel Casamayor, a Cuban refugee who resides in Florida. In a rousing super featherweight unification title bout battle between unbeaten champions, a controversial knockdown and a blatant foul cost Casamayor his unblemished record and his title as Freitas won a close 12 round unanimous decision.

In a classic boxing confrontation between the Brazilian bomber Freitas (129½) and the Cuban boxer Casamayor (129½), the fighters switched roles midway through their encounter in what was reminiscent of Sugar Ray Leonard's first historic face-off with Thomas "Hitman" Hearns back in 1981. The scientist Casamayor became the aggressive slugger, while the puncher Freitas turned into the boxer as once again the unpredictable transpired in a mega-fight.

A glancing right-hand to the neck of the off-balanced Casamayor in the 3rd round was ruled a knockdown by referee Joe Cortez and intentionally hitting on the break in the 6th saw the Cuban penalized another point. It was the difference in the finale tallies and the two point cushion that the tiring Freitas retained across the boards on all three judges scorecards. Ring officials Robert Byrd, Bill Graham and Dave Moretti having identical scores of 114 to 112 for the Brazilian.

After Casamayor

Next, he went to Phoenix, to fight Nigerian Daniel Attah, with only the WBO belt on the line, winning a 12-round decision on August 3, 2002.

Freitas then retained the title in Chicago with a fourth-round knockout of Juan Carlos Ramirez. On August 9, 2003, he and Jorge Barrios engaged in what Showtime commentator Steve Albert called a candidate for fight of the year. Freitas was floored in rounds eight and eleven, but retaliated with a knockdown of his own towards the end of the eleventh, and ended up retaining the title by knockout in round twelve.

Freitas began 2004 by winning a 12-round unanimous decision over Artur Grigorian on January 4, to become the WBO's world Lightweight champion. On February 1 of that year, the WBA announced it had named Freitas their 2003 Fighter of the year.

Freitas vs Corrales

On August 7, 2004, Freitas lost for the first time, losing his WBO Lightweight title to Diego Corrales by quitting in the tenth round after being knocked down by a left hook in Connecticut.

After Corrales

On April 29, 2006, Freitas defeated Zahir Raheem for the vacant WBO lightweight title by split decision. Freitas announced his retirement as a professional boxer on October 4, 2006.^[3] Later on, he announced his come back from retirement, and the WBO re-instated him as their lightweight champion.

On April 28, 2007, he fought Juan Diaz in Mashantucket, USA, losing by TKO after quitting on his stool before beginning the 9th round, drawing boos from the crowd.

Professional boxing record

40 Wins (34 KOs), 2 Losses (2 KOs)[4]
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Win	40–2	Mateo Damian Veron	KO	3	2015-08-15	Arena Santos, Santos, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Win	39–2	Michael Oliveira	KO	9	2012-06-02	Hotel & Casino Conrad, Punta del Este
Loss	38–2	Juan Díaz	RTD	8	2007-04-28	Foxwoods Resort, Mashantucket, Connecticut	Lost WBO lightweight title. For WBA(Super) & IBF lightweight titles.
Win	38–1	Zahir Raheem	SD	12	2006-04-29	Foxwoods Resort, Mashantucket, Connecticut	Won vacant WBO lightweight title.
Win	37–1	Fabian Salazar	KO	1	2005-07-16	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia
Win	36–1	David Saucedo	UD	10	2004-12-11	Ginásio do Ibirapuera, São Paulo, São Paulo
Loss	35–1	Diego Corrales	TKO	10	2004-08-07	Foxwoods Resort, Mashantucket, Connecticut	Lost WBO lightweight title.
Win	35–0	Artur Grigorian	UD	12	2004-01-03	Foxwoods Resort, Mashantucket, Connecticut	Won WBO lightweight title.
Win	34–0	Jorge Rodrigo Barrios	TKO	12	2003-08-09	Miami Arena, Miami, Florida	Retained WBO/WBA(Super) super-featherweight titles.
Win	33–0	Juan Carlos Ramírez	TKO	4	2003-03-15	UIC Pavilion, Chicago, Illinois	Retained WBO/WBA(Super) super-featherweight title.
Win	32–0	Daniel Attah	UD	12	2002-08-03	Dodge Theater, Phoenix, Arizona	Retained WBO/WBA(Super) super-featherweight titles.
Win	31–0	Joel Casamayor	UD	12	2002-01-12	Cox Pavilion, Las Vegas, Nevada	Retained WBO, & won WBA(Super) super-featherweight title.
Win	30–0	Alfred Kotey	UD	10	2001-09-29	Miccosukee Indian Gaming Resort, Miami, Florida	Retained WBO super-featherweight title.
Win	29–0	Orlando Soto	KO	1	2001-01-27	Gimnasio Nilson Nelson, Brasília	Retained WBO super-featherweight title.
Win	28–0	Daniel Alicea	TKO	1	2000-12-16	Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire
Win	27–0	Carlos Rios	TKO	9	2000-09-23	Casino Rama, Rama, Ontario	Retained WBO super-featherweight title.
Win	26–0	Lemuel Nelson	TKO	2	2000-06-10	Fox Theater, Detroit, Michigan	Retained WBO super-featherweight title.
Win	25–0	Javier Jauregui	KO	1	2000-03-18	Credicard Hall, São Paulo, São Paulo	Retained WBO super-featherweight title.
Win	24–0	Barry Jones	TKO	8	2000-01-15	Doncaster Dome, Doncaster, Yorkshire	Retained WBO super-featherweight title.
Win	23–0	Claudio Victor Martinet	KO	3	1999-12-18	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia
Win	22–0	Anthony Martinez	TKO	2	1999-10-26	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia	Retained WBO super-featherweight title.
Win	21–0	Anatoly Alexandrov	KO	1	1999-08-07	La Palestre, Le Cannet, Alpes-Maritimes	Won WBO super-featherweight title.
Win	20–0	Juan Angel Macias	TKO	8	1999-04-02	Grand Hotel, Tijuana, Baja California	Retained NABO super-featherweight title.
Win	19–0	Peter Buckley	RTD	3	1998-12-19	Everton Park Sports Centre, Liverpool, Merseyside
Win	18–0	Jose Luis Montes	TKO	1	1998-10-16	Teatro Mutualista, Tijuana, Baja California, Merseyside	Won NABO super-featherweight title.
Win	17–0	Francisco Tomas Da Cruz	TKO	2	1998-09-15	Ginásio do Ibirapuera, São Paulo, São Paulo	Retained Brazilian lightweight title.
Win	16–0	Juan Gutierrez	TKO	1	1998-08-14	Auditorio del Estado, Mexicali, Baja California
Win	15–0	Rafael Oliveira	KO	3	1998-06-08	Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, California
Win	14–0	Rildo José Oliveira	TKO	1	1998-05-29	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia	Won Brazilian lightweight title.
Win	13–0	Gustavo Rodolfo Sayaavedra	KO	1	1997-11-19	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia
Win	12–0	Edwin Vazquez	TKO	7	1997-09-02	Belle Casino, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Win	11–0	Hilario Guzman	TKO	8	1997-06-27	Mahi Temple Shrine Auditorium, Miami, Florida
Win	10–0	Johnny Montantes	TKO	1	1997-05-10	Unknown, San Jose
Win	9–0	Arcelio Diaz	TKO	1	1997-04-22	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia	Won IBF Latino lightweight title.
Win	8–0	Antonio Maria Do Nascimento	KO	2	1997-03-18	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia
Win	7–0	Hamilton Cerqueira	KO	4	1997-02-01	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia
Win	6–0	Gutemberg Ferreira	TKO	2	1996-08-16	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia	Won WBC Mundo Hispano lightweight title.
Win	5–0	Ralph Riveros	KO	2	1996-04-02	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia
Win	4–0	Marco De Lima	TKO	3	1995-11-14	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia
Win	3–0	Manoel Oliveira da Cruz	KO	2	1995-09-18	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia
Win	2–0	Valdevino Monteiro	KO	1	1995-08-14	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia
Win	1–0	Jose Adriano Soares	KO	1	1995-07-14	Ginásio Antônio Balbino, Salvador, Bahia	Professional debut.

Personal life

Freitas has been able to reach his dream of buying his family a better place to live. A national hero in Brazil, evoking memories of the idolatry many Brazilians felt for Freitas' childhood hero, Jofre. As a result, he has become a campaign spokesman of many companies, adding to his income from boxing.

He has been able to help his family financially and has built a soccer field in his mansion, allowing him to practice his second favorite sport.

Freitas' married wife Elena in 2001, they divorced in 2003.

He was Secretary of Sports in Salvador and is member of Brazilian Republican Party.

See also

• List of lightweight boxing champions
• List of current world boxing champions

Notes and references

External links

• Professional boxing record for Acelino Freitas from BoxRec
• boxen-artur.de – Encyclopedia
• Acelino Freitas on IMDb