12/25/2023 0 Comments Edwin barrios boxer brazilian![]() ![]() The fight with Casamayor was a very tough fight and very important for me the unification of the WBA and WBO titles. A fight that I will remember forever.Ĭasamayor: Best agility, fast southpaw and very intelligent. He knew how to use his skills against me and had great leg movement. I classified him the best puncher because he was the only one who gave me a TKO loss.Ĭasamayor: He was smart, strong and very intelligent. He was a super fighter fast, good moves, his punches were painful and his speed made him very difficult. He endured what many of my 34 opponents could not stand.Ĭorrales: He had heavy hands. I say he’s the toughest, he took a lot of punches. The physical preparation helped him a lot in the 10 rounds. He was a very strong and intelligent southpaw. I’ve never seen a fighter who could take so many punches in my life. He had good movement and fast punches.Īlfred Kotey: He broke my knockout streak. That made it difficult.ĭiego Corrales: He was the one who knocked me down with powerful and fast punches.Ĭorrales: He was very strong and knew how to move very well. Peter Buckley: He defended well with his hands and stopped my shots landing directly all the time. Juan Diaz: Diaz’s jab was faster, my timing was out. “I just have a great family and live off of what boxing has given me and that’s a great life,” said the ex-champ proudly.įreitas graciously took time to speak to The Ring about the best he fought in 10 key categories. He remains very popular in his homeland and took part in a reality show. Millions of people watched my fights.”įreitas, now 43, is divorced with six children. “All of them came to meet me instead of me going to meet them. “My three biggest idols are Pele, Neymar and Mike Tyson,” said Freitas. However, despite those opportunities getting away, the Brazilian fan-favorite is very happy with his achievements in boxing. “I wanted to fight Pacquiao and Mayweather.” “I wanted a rematch with Corrales and Corrales said no,” recalled the former champion. There were three more fights Freitas would have liked during his career. The retirement was official, it was the last fight.” “Also (I wanted) to spread the sport more here in Brazil. “I decided to fight again because I love boxing,” Freitas said. He has since fought twice more but insists he won’t compete again. Whilst in office Freitas decided to fight again, admittedly at a lower level, before walking away again. He moved into politics in 2011 and worked as a legislator for his home state for four years. The younger, fresher Texan forced an eighth-round corner retirement and Freitas walked away from the sport. That victory set up a unification match with WBA titleholder Juan Diaz in April 2007, but Freitas was no longer the fighter he once was. Olympian Zahir Raheem for the vacant belt. Two routine wins followed before Freitas managed to regain his WBO 135-pound title by edging awkward U.S. ![]() Immediately thereafter Freitas made the permanent move to lightweight, becoming a two-weight world champion when he bested long-time WBO titleholder Artur Grigorjan.īut seven months later Freitas would lose his unbeaten record to Diego Corrales, who dropped him in the eighth, ninth and 10th rounds before the champion decided he’d had enough. The champion was floored twice and the fight was extremely close, but Freitas finally broke through, rendering the scorecards meaningless with an exhilarating stoppage in the final round. In August 2003, Freitas defended his WBA and WBO junior lightweight titles against Jorge Barrios in a thriller. ![]() It was his 30th fight and the first time he was taken the distance in his professional career. Included in his nine successful defenses were Barry Jones (TKO8), future IBF lightweight titleholder Javier Jauregui (KO 1), sturdy veteran Carlos Rios (TKO 9), long-time contender Orlando Soto (KO 1) and a unification win against WBA counterpart Joel Casamayor (UD 12) in early 2002.ĭuring his title run, Freitas fought a non-title bout up at lightweight, winning a 10-round shutout against grizzled Ghanaian veteran Alf Kotey. “Winning the world title changed my life,” he said. Alexandrov was taken from the ring on a stretcher and the secret was out.įreitas considers this his proudest moment in boxing. ![]() It was an opportunity that Freitas wasn’t going to pass up and he knocked the Kazakhstan-born champion cold midway through the opening round. and the U.K.įour years into his pro career, with a record of 20-0 (20 knockouts), Freitas was rewarded with a championship fight against WBO junior lightweight titleholder Anatoly Alexandrov in France. That vaunted power quickly caught the attention of the right people and Freitas fought in Costa Rica, Mexico, the U.S. He scored a first-round knockout, a result which would become commonplace as the dynamic young prospect moved through the ranks. After winning silver at the Pan Am games, “Popo” turned professional in July 1995. ![]()
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