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Michael Oliveira To Fight Acelino Freitas at 154

Published

12 years ago

February 15, 2012

TSS LOGO! MIAMI (February 15. 2012) – Team Oliveira has collectively decided to drop undefeated WBC South American middleweight champion Michael “The Brazilian Rocky” Oliveira down one weight class to junior middleweight, starting with his Brazilian mega-fight against four-time world champion Acelino “Popo” Freitas, which is tentatively scheduled for May 19 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In his Canadian debut last Saturday, fighting in the third different county (US and Brazil) in his last three fights -Oliveira won a unanimous eight-round decision (79-73, 77-75, 77-75 against Sergei “Baltic King” Melis (18-8, 7 KOs) in Mississauga, Ontario.

Oliveira (17-0, 12 KOs), rated No. 14 by the World Boxing Council (“WBC”), battled the rugged Estonian in a spirited Special Middleweight Attraction “It was a war,” Michael's father/promoter Carlos Oliveira (MO Productions) described the Oliverira-Melis fight. “Overall, it was a very good experience for Michael. It went back-and-forth, every round, and Michael was a warrior. Michael has been fighting much bigger opponents, so he'll now be dropping down to his natural fighting weight at 154 pounds.”

“My conditioning proved to be the difference,” Michael spoke about last Saturday's fight. I executed the plan but I thought that it was going to be a much easier fight than it was. He really surprised us. He didn't do anything that we saw him do on tape. It was another valuable learning experience. This fight was more important for me to fight eight hard rounds, instead of knocking somebody out in the first round. It proved my point that video tapes don't show everything. He threw more lefts in his old fights and a lot more rights against me.

“I had another fight planned and it was cancelled, so I took this one on short notice, and had to lose 20 pounds in one week. During the fight I felt deprived, not hydrated enough, and my opponent made me suffer. But, I'm still 17-0.”

The 21-year-old Oliveira is listed as 5' 9″ but he always gave away height, reach and weight fighting as a middleweight. He had been a super middleweight until head trainer Orlando Cueller joined his corner just three fights ago. “He's not a real 160-pounder and it showed,” admitted Cueller, who is best known as Glenn Johnson's trainer. “He weighs maybe 162-63 pounds the night of the fight, but his opponents are in the mid-to- high 170s. Michael's been giving away too much height and weight and from now on he'll be fighting at a junior middleweight. The Russian came to win and the same-day weigh in affected Michael. We had the weigh in at 10 AM, paperwork lasted until around 1 PM, and he didn't eat until after that.

“He had to make adjustments during the fight and did. We've only been together 10 months. He listens and remembers what I tell him, but it's still going to take a while for him to get past bad habits he developed over four years. He's very young and without any amateur background, so Michael's experience is what he's learning in the gym. He's working on more lateral movement, moving his head more, and keeping his left high. He has the heart of a champion, though.”

Carlos is scheduled to fly next week to Brazil to go over final details for Michael's May 19 fight in Rio against Freitas. “I'm looking forward to it,” Michael added. “Everybody is going to see a much better fighter against Freitas than the other night. Making 154 won't be a problem. I was 157 the fight before last and I'll be losing weight under proper supervision during training camp. I'll bring my power down to 154 and won't be fighting bigger, stronger opponents who way up to 180 pounds in the ring.

“Freitas is an excellent, veteran fighter who is very smart and crafty. I'll have youth and more speed and strength on my side, but he's going to have years of experience on me. I'm taking training seriously for this fight, as if it is my first world title shot, and we will be training outside of Miami without any distractions.”

The 36-year-old Freitas, a living legend in Brazil, has been retired for nearly five years. He stands 5' 6″ and 135 pounds was the highest weight he fought at during his illustrious career.

“Michael will be younger, faster, more active and bigger than Freitas,” Cueller noted. “We'll have eight solid weeks of hard training, bringing in good sparring partners who are similar to Freitas. We'll be preparing to fight the best Freitas, not the one who's been retired.”

Go to www.MichaelOliveria.com for more information.

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The Sweet Science

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Articles

Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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Articles

2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

8 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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