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When it was announced that Acelino Freitas and Zahir Raheem would meet for the vacant WBO lightweight trinket, nobody expected a bout on the level of Diego Corrales’ legendary first war with Jose Luis Castillo.
Very few people asked for Freitas and Raheem to repeat Jose Armando Santa Cruz-Edner Cherry or Juan Diaz-Jose Miguel Cotto either, even if those match-ups were the two 2006 fights that, when combined with the Corrales-Castillo soon-to-be trilogy, have helped to make the 135-lb. division one of the most exciting in boxing today.
But with the talent and track records of Freitas and Raheem, their match had the makings of a good fight. If nobody expected a Corrales-Castillo I, they also didn’t foresee a Lilliputian presentation of John Ruiz’ greatest grabs.
Styles make fights, and on paper the slick boxing of Raheem and the boxer-puncher tendencies of Freitas gave the impression of an interesting meshing. Instead of meshing together, though, the fighters tangled for an hour of hard-to-score and even harder to watch action – action being a generous description. [details]
Very few people asked for Freitas and Raheem to repeat Jose Armando Santa Cruz-Edner Cherry or Juan Diaz-Jose Miguel Cotto either, even if those match-ups were the two 2006 fights that, when combined with the Corrales-Castillo soon-to-be trilogy, have helped to make the 135-lb. division one of the most exciting in boxing today.
But with the talent and track records of Freitas and Raheem, their match had the makings of a good fight. If nobody expected a Corrales-Castillo I, they also didn’t foresee a Lilliputian presentation of John Ruiz’ greatest grabs.
Styles make fights, and on paper the slick boxing of Raheem and the boxer-puncher tendencies of Freitas gave the impression of an interesting meshing. Instead of meshing together, though, the fighters tangled for an hour of hard-to-score and even harder to watch action – action being a generous description. [details]