When and why you started boxing:
I started boxing when I was 13 years old up in Mackay, Australia, while I was in the rugby league off season. I saw my good friend and neighbour doing his hand wraps in his front yard. I was interested in what he was doing, so I went along to a session with him. I fell in love with the sport there and then.
Favourite all-time fighter:
Best fight you’ve seen:
It’d have to be the Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward trilogy. Those are the fights you’d show someone who doesn’t know boxing, and it’d make them an instant fan.
When and why you started boxing:
I started boxing when I was nine years old. I was a bit mischievous, so my dad decided to take me to the gym.
Favourite all-time fighter:
Oscar De La Hoya is my favourite fighter of all time. I named my son after him.
Best fight you’ve seen:
Jamie Moore vs Matthew Macklin is the best domestic fight I’ve seen. On the international scene I’d go for the three Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward fights.
Personal career highlight:
Winning the British [super-welterweight] title outright and challenging for the WBO [super-welterweight] title as the mandatory contender.
Max: Final rounds of Freitas-Barrios very telling
By Max Kellerman
Special to ESPN.com
Acelino Freitas 12th-round knockout of Argentinian contender Jorge Barrios last Saturday night was a good action fight with a sensational ending. A certain boxing observer who shall here remain nameless (Brian Kenny) went so far as to call it 2003 s Fight of the Year.
While Freitas-Barrios was no James Toney-Vassily Jirov or Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward III, its final two rounds were perhaps as dramatic an ending as any this year.
After an even, back and forth, somewhat awkward brawl over the first 10 rounds, Barrios floored Ring Magazine s top rated 130-pounder in the 11th with a right hand. Brazil s only boxing superstar rose on unsteady legs, but since his mouthpiece was knocked out by the punch that sent him down, he was given extra time to recover as the referee would not let the action continue until the mouthpiece was rinsed and put back in.