![]() 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. Freitas then beat the former world champion: Al Kotey, the brother of David 'Poison' Kotei, by a ten-round decision. He then went to London and took only 45 seconds to stop Daniel Alicea in another non-title affair. Freitas then made five defenses of his world title and had one non-title bout, all of which ended in knockout wins. Soon after, he signed a contract with cable TV giant Showtime, which began to telecast Freitas' fights to the United States. On August 7, 1999, Freitas knocked out WBO Junior Lightweight Champion Anatoly Alexandrov in the first round. Freitas handled Da Cruz with a knockout in two rounds and then added three more knockout wins before getting his first world title shot. 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.īetween 19, Freitas won four more fights and then took on Francisco Tomas Da Cruz, a former world title challenger of Julio César Chávez. 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. Professional career Early success Īfter the Pan American Games he turned into a professional boxer on July 14, 1995, against Adriano Jose Soares. ( July 2008)įreitas competed for his native country and won a lightweight silver medal at the Pan American Games 1995 in Mar del Plata. He was heavily influenced by his father and brothers, especially Luis Claudio Freitas.įellow Brazilian Eder Jofre, generally recognized as the greatest world champion to come out of that country, was one of Freitas' childhood heroes. A skilled football player, he was more inclined, however, towards the sport of boxing since an early age. Since early in his life, he dreamed of a better place to live for his family. Early life įreitas had a difficult childhood, often sleeping on a sandy floor at his house. His nickname, Popó, was given to him by his mother, after the sound that babies make while drinking milk. After retiring from boxing, Freitas went into politics, and was elected as a legislator for the state of Bahia, from 2011 to 2014. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBO super featherweight title from 1999 to 2004, the WBA (Unified) super featherweight title from 2002 to 2004, and the WBO lightweight title twice between 20. Acelino " Popó" Freitas ( Portuguese pronunciation: born September 21, 1975) is a Brazilian politician and a former professional boxer who competed between 19.
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