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That was quick, even by boxing standards.
Lightweight titlist Acelino "Popo" Freitas, who announced his retirement three weeks ago, hadn't even gotten around to officially vacating his belt before announcing this week that he wants to fight again.
Few believed that his retirement would last, but three weeks?
Freitas (38-1, 32 KOs), appearing at the annual WBO convention in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., made his announcement with a caveat: He only wants to unify titles with champion Joel Casamayor (34-3-1, 21 KOs).
Freitas, a national hero in Brazil, met privately with WBO president Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel to tell him that he wasn't going to relinquish his belt. Then Freitas announced his comeback while speaking from the podium during an award acceptance speech.
"The reason I think he came out of retirement is because there is a window of opportunity to do the fight with Casamayor in Brazil in March or April, and HBO has said they would be willing to go to Brazil," Artie Pelullo, Freitas' longtime promoter, told ESPN.com. "Casamayor has been saying a lot of derogatory things about Freitas to the Brazilian press and, to put it a nice way, Acelino would like to shut him up. He says he wants to fight Casamayor again and this time knock him out. I also think his decision is about wanting to win another belt, which would be his fifth title."
Freitas, 31, outpointed Casamayor, 35, in a close fight to unify junior lightweight belts in January 2002, and Casamayor has always believed he won.
Both fighters later moved up to lightweight. Freitas won a vacant belt in April on a split decision against Zahir Raheem, and six months later announced his short-lived retirement.
Casamayor, a 1992 Cuban Olympic gold medalist who later defected, won a split decision against Diego Corrales on Oct. 7 to win the vacant lightweight world title. The fight came a day after Diego Corrales failed to make weight and was stripped.
Pelullo, who was with Freitas at the convention, said he was planning to go to Brazil next week for a more in-depth meeting with Freitas about his future.
"I don't know if this is a one- or two-fight thing and he's out, or if he wants to keep fighting for awhile," Pelullo said. "He is financially set for life, but he's an athlete and he's competitive. We'll talk about it in more detail when I am in Brazil next week."
Once Freitas made his announcement, Pelullo said he received overtures from Don King about matching Freitas with fellow lightweight titlist Juan Diaz, who defends his belt Nov. 4 against Fernando Angulo.
"Don was making his pitch, but I think before we consider that fight, Freitas wants to fight Casamayor," Pelullo said.
Casamayor promoter Luis DeCubas has been talking about the fight with Pelullo for the past few days and is hopeful they can work things out.
"Right after they fought the first time, we felt we won the fight," DeCubas said. "We tried to make the rematch back then, but Freitas didn't want to fight again. We even offered to go to Brazil, and he didn't want no part of Casamayor. I guess now he's changed his mind and wants to fight Casamayor again. We've got no problem with it. It's about the money. Strictly the money. But it's a great fight and I think the fans would like to see a rematch."
DeCubas said they have no problem going to Brazil for the fight either.
"It's all about money. If the money is in Brazil, we're going to Brazil," he said. "We would only want to make sure there are neutral judges."
Plans had been in the works for Freitas to defend his belt Jan. 27 in Brazil on HBO, but when he announced his retirement, the date was given to Top Rank for a fight involving exciting junior bantamweight contender Jorge Arce.
The Association of Boxing Commissions denied an appeal this week by former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah, who was seeking to have the ABC overturn his suspension in Nevada to free him to box in other states.
The ABC is a nonprofit organization made up of boxing commissions from the United States, Puerto Rico, the ****** Islands and any federally recognized Indian tribe with a commission. It attempts to oversee the sport as it relates to standardizing rules and medical requirements nationwide.
If a fighter is suspended in one state, members of the ABC are supposed to enforce the suspension nationwide.
Nevada officials revoked Judah's license for unsportsmanlike conduct during his April fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., during which Judah fouled Mayweather twice. The fouls ignited a brawl between the fighter camps during the 10th round. While Mayweather did not participate in the brawl, Judah was right in the middle of it.
Besides Judah's license being revoked, he was also fined $250,000. He can reapply for a license in April 2007.
The ABC ruled that Judah's suspension was "reciprocally enforceable by all boxing commissions in the United States."
Based on a technicality in the language outlining national suspensions, Judah's attorney, Lamont Jones, argued that Judah be allowed to box outside of Nevada. The ABC didn't buy the weak argument and unanimously rejected the appeal.
Judah had been trying to line up a fall fight in New Jersey against Hector Camacho Jr.
Middleweight champion Jermain Taylor has been training in Miami for the past few weeks in preparation for his Dec. 9 defense against Kassim Ouma, but Taylor is not working with head trainer Emanuel Steward. Instead, Taylor is working with Ozell Nelson, Taylor's father figure and assistant trainer. Steward is in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains training heavyweight titlist Wladimir Klitschko for his Nov. 11 fight with Calvin Brock. When that fight is over, Steward will join Taylor in Miami for the second half of his camp. Steward and Taylor have only been together for one fight -- his June draw with Winky Wright -- and they probably could use a full camp together. However, Taylor didn't want to go to Pennsylvania to train for the Ouma fight and Klitschko didn't want to go to Miami to train for Brock. "He's training in Miami without Emanuel until Emanuel is available," promoter Lou DiBella told ESPN.com. "They'll be together after the Klitschko fight."
Juan Manuel Marquez (45-3-1, 34 KOs) of Mexico will defend his interim featherweight belt on HBO's Nov. 25 "Boxing After Dark" card, a month after his Oct. 21 bout against Jimrex Jaca of the Philippines was cancelled because of Jaca's visa problems. Promoter Golden Boy was able to put Marquez into the main event because the original Nov. 25 main event -- the lightweight title bout between Jesus Chavez and Julio Diaz -- fell out when Chavez decided not to take the fight. There are three potential opponents for Marquez: European champ Nicky Cook (26-0, 15 KOs) of England; Argentina's Sergio Manuel Medina (26-0, 15 KOs), who would move up from junior featherweight; and Jaca (27-2-1, 12 KOs), who could have his visa problems sorted out in time for the fight. Cook is the first choice, but he has a Dec. 9 fight scheduled against titlist Scott Harrison. However, Harrison is in jail in Spain and that bout is in jeopardy. The Nov. 25 HBO undercard will feature junior welterweight contender Demetrius Hopkins (24-0-1, 10 KOs), probably against Antonio Mesquita (33-0, 26 KOs), a native of Brazil based in Las Vegas.
Link with all the news^^
Lightweight titlist Acelino "Popo" Freitas, who announced his retirement three weeks ago, hadn't even gotten around to officially vacating his belt before announcing this week that he wants to fight again.
Few believed that his retirement would last, but three weeks?
Freitas (38-1, 32 KOs), appearing at the annual WBO convention in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., made his announcement with a caveat: He only wants to unify titles with champion Joel Casamayor (34-3-1, 21 KOs).
Freitas, a national hero in Brazil, met privately with WBO president Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel to tell him that he wasn't going to relinquish his belt. Then Freitas announced his comeback while speaking from the podium during an award acceptance speech.
"The reason I think he came out of retirement is because there is a window of opportunity to do the fight with Casamayor in Brazil in March or April, and HBO has said they would be willing to go to Brazil," Artie Pelullo, Freitas' longtime promoter, told ESPN.com. "Casamayor has been saying a lot of derogatory things about Freitas to the Brazilian press and, to put it a nice way, Acelino would like to shut him up. He says he wants to fight Casamayor again and this time knock him out. I also think his decision is about wanting to win another belt, which would be his fifth title."
Freitas, 31, outpointed Casamayor, 35, in a close fight to unify junior lightweight belts in January 2002, and Casamayor has always believed he won.
Both fighters later moved up to lightweight. Freitas won a vacant belt in April on a split decision against Zahir Raheem, and six months later announced his short-lived retirement.
Casamayor, a 1992 Cuban Olympic gold medalist who later defected, won a split decision against Diego Corrales on Oct. 7 to win the vacant lightweight world title. The fight came a day after Diego Corrales failed to make weight and was stripped.
Pelullo, who was with Freitas at the convention, said he was planning to go to Brazil next week for a more in-depth meeting with Freitas about his future.
"I don't know if this is a one- or two-fight thing and he's out, or if he wants to keep fighting for awhile," Pelullo said. "He is financially set for life, but he's an athlete and he's competitive. We'll talk about it in more detail when I am in Brazil next week."
Once Freitas made his announcement, Pelullo said he received overtures from Don King about matching Freitas with fellow lightweight titlist Juan Diaz, who defends his belt Nov. 4 against Fernando Angulo.
"Don was making his pitch, but I think before we consider that fight, Freitas wants to fight Casamayor," Pelullo said.
Casamayor promoter Luis DeCubas has been talking about the fight with Pelullo for the past few days and is hopeful they can work things out.
"Right after they fought the first time, we felt we won the fight," DeCubas said. "We tried to make the rematch back then, but Freitas didn't want to fight again. We even offered to go to Brazil, and he didn't want no part of Casamayor. I guess now he's changed his mind and wants to fight Casamayor again. We've got no problem with it. It's about the money. Strictly the money. But it's a great fight and I think the fans would like to see a rematch."
DeCubas said they have no problem going to Brazil for the fight either.
"It's all about money. If the money is in Brazil, we're going to Brazil," he said. "We would only want to make sure there are neutral judges."
Plans had been in the works for Freitas to defend his belt Jan. 27 in Brazil on HBO, but when he announced his retirement, the date was given to Top Rank for a fight involving exciting junior bantamweight contender Jorge Arce.
The Association of Boxing Commissions denied an appeal this week by former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah, who was seeking to have the ABC overturn his suspension in Nevada to free him to box in other states.
The ABC is a nonprofit organization made up of boxing commissions from the United States, Puerto Rico, the ****** Islands and any federally recognized Indian tribe with a commission. It attempts to oversee the sport as it relates to standardizing rules and medical requirements nationwide.
If a fighter is suspended in one state, members of the ABC are supposed to enforce the suspension nationwide.
Nevada officials revoked Judah's license for unsportsmanlike conduct during his April fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., during which Judah fouled Mayweather twice. The fouls ignited a brawl between the fighter camps during the 10th round. While Mayweather did not participate in the brawl, Judah was right in the middle of it.
Besides Judah's license being revoked, he was also fined $250,000. He can reapply for a license in April 2007.
The ABC ruled that Judah's suspension was "reciprocally enforceable by all boxing commissions in the United States."
Based on a technicality in the language outlining national suspensions, Judah's attorney, Lamont Jones, argued that Judah be allowed to box outside of Nevada. The ABC didn't buy the weak argument and unanimously rejected the appeal.
Judah had been trying to line up a fall fight in New Jersey against Hector Camacho Jr.
Middleweight champion Jermain Taylor has been training in Miami for the past few weeks in preparation for his Dec. 9 defense against Kassim Ouma, but Taylor is not working with head trainer Emanuel Steward. Instead, Taylor is working with Ozell Nelson, Taylor's father figure and assistant trainer. Steward is in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains training heavyweight titlist Wladimir Klitschko for his Nov. 11 fight with Calvin Brock. When that fight is over, Steward will join Taylor in Miami for the second half of his camp. Steward and Taylor have only been together for one fight -- his June draw with Winky Wright -- and they probably could use a full camp together. However, Taylor didn't want to go to Pennsylvania to train for the Ouma fight and Klitschko didn't want to go to Miami to train for Brock. "He's training in Miami without Emanuel until Emanuel is available," promoter Lou DiBella told ESPN.com. "They'll be together after the Klitschko fight."
Juan Manuel Marquez (45-3-1, 34 KOs) of Mexico will defend his interim featherweight belt on HBO's Nov. 25 "Boxing After Dark" card, a month after his Oct. 21 bout against Jimrex Jaca of the Philippines was cancelled because of Jaca's visa problems. Promoter Golden Boy was able to put Marquez into the main event because the original Nov. 25 main event -- the lightweight title bout between Jesus Chavez and Julio Diaz -- fell out when Chavez decided not to take the fight. There are three potential opponents for Marquez: European champ Nicky Cook (26-0, 15 KOs) of England; Argentina's Sergio Manuel Medina (26-0, 15 KOs), who would move up from junior featherweight; and Jaca (27-2-1, 12 KOs), who could have his visa problems sorted out in time for the fight. Cook is the first choice, but he has a Dec. 9 fight scheduled against titlist Scott Harrison. However, Harrison is in jail in Spain and that bout is in jeopardy. The Nov. 25 HBO undercard will feature junior welterweight contender Demetrius Hopkins (24-0-1, 10 KOs), probably against Antonio Mesquita (33-0, 26 KOs), a native of Brazil based in Las Vegas.
Link with all the news^^
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