Acelino Freitas Edges Zahir Raheem

Former world champ Acelino Freitas (38-1) has defeated Zahir Raheem (27-2) by split decision to win the vacant WBO lightweight title. Freitas was the more effective fighter through five rounds but the two fought fairly evenly over the remaining seven rounds. Neither fighter was ever down or seriously hurt in the competitive but clinch-filled bout. The new HBO Boxing After Dark broadcast team of Fran Charles, Lennox Lewis and Max Kellerman didn’t always seem to be calling the same fight that was taking place in the ring and saw Raheem as the clear winner. The judges, however, saw the fight 116-112 and 115-113 for Freitas and 115-113 for Rahim. Next for Freitas might be a unification bout against the winner of the June 3 fight between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales.

On the undercard, 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Andre Ward raised his record to 9-0 when previously undefeated Andy Kolle failed to come out for the seventh round of their scheduled eight rounder. Ward showed good skills and should become a factor in the middleweight division after some more seasoning in the professional ranks.