My dude is making yet another return to active duty. If you missed the one he made 5½ years ago: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/acelino-freitas-vs-michael-oliveira-rbr.406231/ ...it was a wild ride. Freitas had fought just once in over six years at that point, having officially retired from boxing for the first time after his split decision victory over Zahir Raheem...and for the second time after returning on the eve of the anniversary of that fight and ultimately being made to quit on his stool (for the second time in his career) by Juan "Torito" Díaz. That was a lightweight in April 2007. Fast-forward to June of 2012 and he made an unexpected jump to light middleweight to answer the challenge of 16-0 (11) countryman and natural middleweight "The Brazilian Rocky" Michael Oliveira. Freitas dominated and kayoed the much bigger and younger man. Then skip to August 2015, a few weeks shy of his fortieth birthday, and the former super featherweight champ scored one more knockout @ 154lbs, this one perhaps over the a better opponent than Oliveira in respected Argentine journeyman Mateo Damián Verón (who boasts career victories over Jorge Sebastian Heiland, Guido Pitto, and Javier Francisco Maciel). Again, that was at 39 years old. This coming Saturday, at 42, he will charge once more unto the breach for a third foray to super welter, taking on Gabriel Alejandro Martínez. "El Rey" is best remembered by fans in his native Mexico for a spirited effort in an eventual 12th-round loss to a 17-year-old budding star named Canelo Álvarez, or by international audiences for a brawl with Mark Jason Melligen in another unsuccessful effort. Hardly a top quality scalp, but the fact that Freitas is 42 (and tempting fate after not once but twice returning to face men that VASTLY outsize him) is what makes this muy loco!
Always found it odd that Brazil - a country famous for producing a deluge of monster MMA fighters - has been so lacking in top shelf boxers Michael used to be known as the Chairman of the Board. He's not fought since 2013. Seemed like a really nice guy
I always thought Oscar Suarez changed Freitas for the worse when he took over training him. Exciting fighter, I saw him when he fought Daniel Alicia in Sheffield. Wish him all the best if comeback happens.
The real question is, was Freitas more disrespected, or maybe more accurately, underrated... in his prime, or now? I feel like he doesn't really get thes credit he deserves. Maybe it's just me.
He got hung with the scarlet letter Q for quitting a couple of times in his career, but when you look at the actual circumstances both times and then look at the fact that far more egregiously offensive quitters have been given reprieves and kept their fan bases intact, somehow - it seems a bit selective, and more than a little unfair that he gets eternally **** on because of two nights in an otherwise crowd-pleasing and high-caliber run of world class professional boxing, while guys like Victor Ortiz get contradictory pass after pass.
Brazil is known for it's Jiu Jitsu. The guys that come from there are good at MMA because of their Jits backgrounds.
I would have loved to see him fight Floyd during Floyd's prime, even though we know Floyd would have probably knocked him.
That's true. But you also have devastating strikers like Anderson, Rua, Wanderlei, Belfort and Machida that you feel could have done very well in boxing. Perhaps its just the culture with JJ and Muay Thai being huge over there and boxing not
Yeah boxing is just not a big sport there. It's all about soccer, Jiu Jitsu, and MMA. Freitas was one of my favorites. Great puncher and athletically gifted. Just had a heart issue later on and not an ideal boxing trainer for the elite level.
