RIO DE JANEIRO \u2014 Acelino Freitas is retired from professional boxing, but the new age of the sport and its exhibitions opens doors for him to chase his dream matches.<\/p>\n
A former WBO and WBA super featherweight champion and two-time WBO lightweight champion with ferocious knockout power in his hands, scoring 34 knockouts in a 41-2 run as a pro, \u201cPop\u00f3\u201d enters the ring Saturday to face a much larger Wanderlei Silva in the main event of Spaten Fight Night 2 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.<\/p>\n
The match, an eight-round exhibition with judges scoring ring side, was made official after Vitor Belfort withdrew from a clash with \u201cThe Axe Murderer\u201d citing concussions suffered in camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no fear, we\u2019re going there to rip his head off,\u201d Freitas said with a smile on his face during a recent media day in Brazil. \u201c[Spaten] won\u2019t regret calling me to replace Vitor Belfort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freitas has been active in boxing exhibitions in Brazil against celebrities, folding Silva\u2019s former Chute Boxe teammate Jose Landi-Jons in one round in one of his appearances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have the hands to get it done,\u201d Freitas said of the size disadvantage. \u201cIf I were a fighter with no knockout power, with a record of 20 wins and 19 decisions, I probably wouldn\u2019t have taken this fight because Wanderlei is 40, 50 pounds heavier. But most of my knockouts were at 130 pounds. I went 29-0 with 29 knockouts at 130 pounds. It\u2019s not the body weight that makes you a knockout puncher.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWanderlei Silva, his [Brazilian] nickname says who he is, \u2018Cachorro Louco\u2019 [Mad Dog]. After this he might become Dead Dog, which is my plan,\u201d Freitas said. \u201cEvery time someone challenged a boxer in the ring, Logan Paul couldn\u2019t do it against [Floyd] Mayweather. [Conor] McGregor challenged Mayweather in the ring and couldn\u2019t do it. I\u2019ve never felt any pressure [in boxing], and I won\u2019t start now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freitas is the face of Fight Music Show, a Brazil-based boxing promotion that has focused on celebrity matches over the past few years. Spaten has a different approach to the game, booking Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen for its first card in 2024 and now Belfort vs. Silva. \u201cPop\u00f3\u201d keeps the door open for maybe facing Belfort in the future should he beat Silva.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast time [Belfort] wanted to fight me with some gloves he invented,\u201d Freitas said. \u201cAnd then he wanted me to fight 60 pounds heavier. I was like, \u2018You don\u2019t want to fight then.\u2019 Same thing he did with Wanderlei now. Spaten Fight Night, every time you call Vitor Belfort to fight, make sure you have a backup plan because he might chicken out again.\u201d<\/p>\n
From influencers and actors to now a MMA legend, \u201cPop\u00f3\u201d said he\u2019s also open to facing fellow boxing stars from the past.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was approached for a fight with [Manny] Pacquiao in the undercard of Jake Paul but talks didn\u2019t advance,\u201d Freitas said. \u201cAnd then I was offered Marco Antonio Barrera. I was also offered the kid that knocked out Pacquiao [Juan Manuel Marquez], but only speculation. Mayweather, when I fought Joel Casamayor [in 2002], he went to the press conference and did a big scene, called me out, and to this day I\u2019m still waiting for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have the dream and desire to fight these guys,\u201d Freitas added. \u201cI\u2019m always ready. If [the chance] comes like this time, be sure that I\u2019ll go there and I\u2019ll do a nice job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RIO DE JANEIRO \u2014 Acelino Freitas is retired from professional boxing, but the new age of the sport…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,1920,1347,85],"class_list":["post-173764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-latest-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}