Acelino Freitas vs Daniel Attah

Brazil’s Acelino Freitas retained the WBA and WBO super-featherweight championships by unanimous decision over Daniel Attah at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, on August 3, 2002. All three judges returned identical scores of 117–110 after 12 rounds. Freitas and Attah each weighed the division limit of 130 pounds, and the attendance was reported as 2,402. Referee Robert Ferrara deducted one point from Freitas in the tenth round for a low blow.

The contest was Freitas’s first appearance since his disputed but important victory over Joel Casamayor seven months earlier. That success had added the WBA championship to the WBO belt he had held since 1999, but it had also ended a run in which the Brazilian had stopped his first 29 professional opponents. Freitas entered Phoenix with 31 victories, 29 by knockout, and had developed a reputation for sudden, heavy attacks from either hand. Attah was unbeaten in 21 contests, with 20 wins and one draw, but only eight of his victories had come inside the distance. A Nigerian southpaw who had become the WBO’s leading challenger, he appeared more likely to trouble Freitas through movement and accuracy than through force.

Freitas began as the busier and more purposeful fighter. He pressed behind his jab, attempted to bring the right hand across Attah’s southpaw guard and carried the greater authority whenever the two exchanged. Attah remained composed, moving laterally and trying to make the champion reach before answering with straight punches. Freitas took each of the opening two rounds on all three official cards, but Attah demonstrated early that the first determined attack would not remove him. He kept his hands in position, avoided remaining stationary for long periods and returned enough clean punches to prevent Freitas from advancing carelessly.

The third round brought Attah his first official success. Judge Chris Wilson awarded it to the challenger, while Guy Jutras and Raul Caiz Sr continued to favour Freitas. Attah’s southpaw stance allowed him to find the champion with straight left hands and short counters when Freitas squared himself during an attack. The punches did not appear to hurt Freitas, but they exposed openings in a defence that was less secure when the champion became anxious to land his heavier blows. Freitas recovered his command in the fourth and swept the next three rounds on every card. He worked at a steadier pace, forced Attah to give ground and generally landed the more substantial punches, though the challenger continued to answer and showed no sign of weakening.

Attah produced his best sustained period in the seventh. All three judges gave him the round, the only session on which they were unanimous in his favour. He made better use of his jab and straight left, caught Freitas as the champion came forward and prevented him from setting his feet for long combinations. Freitas had built a comfortable advantage by then, but the round showed that Attah’s clean punching could be effective whenever he controlled the distance. He lacked the power to force the champion into retreat, however, and Freitas resumed command in the eighth and ninth. His right hand remained the stronger weapon, and his heavier body punches helped keep Attah on the defensive even when the Nigerian was still landing the occasional clear counter.

The tenth became the most untidy round of the contest. Freitas, working downstairs as Attah moved away or bent forward, struck below the permitted line and was penalised one point by Ferrara. Jutras scored the round 8–10 against the champion, while Caiz and Wilson returned 9–9 totals, indicating that they believed Freitas had otherwise done enough to win the session. It was the only official disciplinary action of the fight. Attah remained competitive after the infringement, but the deduction did not materially alter the position because Freitas had already accumulated a substantial lead.

Freitas won the eleventh round on all three cards and entered the last requiring only to remain upright and avoid a major reversal. Attah continued to box rather than gamble recklessly. Caiz awarded him the twelfth, while Jutras and Wilson gave it to the champion. There were no knockdowns, and neither man was in danger of being stopped. Attah’s durability and concentration carried him to the final bell, but he had not imposed himself for enough of the contest to threaten the verdict. Freitas had won through the greater volume and weight of his effective work, taking nine rounds on Jutras’s card, eight on Caiz’s and nine on Wilson’s before the point deduction was applied. Each total nevertheless finished at 117–110.

The decision advanced Freitas’s record to 32–0 and gave him an eighth defence of the WBO title as well as a first defence of the WBA championship. It was a clear victory rather than an impressive destruction. Attah had shown sound technique, courage and sufficient defensive judgement to complete the distance, while also landing enough clean punches to raise further questions about Freitas’s tendency to become open when pressing for a knockout. Later assessments of the champion’s career noted that Attah had been able to catch him repeatedly despite losing widely. The Nigerian’s punches lacked the force to convert those openings into a serious crisis, but stronger opponents would later exploit similar lapses.

For Attah, the defeat was his first as a professional and probably the best performance of his career. He had taken one of boxing’s most feared punchers through 12 rounds without being knocked down and had won recognised portions of the contest on every judge’s card. Freitas remained the undisputed winner, but the evening represented a change from the swift stoppages on which his reputation had first been built. Against Casamayor and then Attah, he had been required to box the full championship distance, showing that he could win rounds and maintain his pace when the knockout did not arrive, while also revealing defensive faults that would become increasingly important as he moved towards more demanding opposition.

I never thought Daniel Attah was going to beat Acelino Freitas, but he was the sort of challenger who could make a champion look untidy. Freitas had just beaten Joel Casamayor to add the WBA belt to his WBO title, and people were still judging him by that run of 29 straight knockouts. Attah was unbeaten, awkward, a southpaw and technically sound, but with only eight stoppages in 21 fights he did not carry the power needed to keep Freitas honest.

The scorecards all read 117–110, and that was fair. Freitas won the fight through heavier punches, greater activity and control of the pace, but it was not one of those nights when he blew a man away. Attah kept finding him with the straight left because Freitas could become square when he rushed his work. That was always the flaw beneath the excitement. He had frightening power, but against a clever opponent he sometimes attacked before his feet were properly set.

Freitas was deducted a point in the tenth for low blows, yet the penalty made no difference to the result. Attah was brave and competent, but he never forced the champion into survival mode and never made him doubt himself. He was good enough to expose openings, not good enough to punish them properly.

For me, this fight showed both sides of Freitas. He proved he could complete 12 rounds and win clearly when the knockout did not arrive, but he also showed why stronger, more aggressive fighters would later trouble him. Attah gave him an honest examination. He just lacked the power to turn technical success into a genuine threat.