Brazil on radar for Acelino Freitas vs. Julio Diaz

It looks like IBF interim lightweight champion Julio Diaz will get it on with Brazilian Acelino Freitas in Brazil, if contractual terms can be hashed out.

This being boxing, with egos being what they are, and the handshake basically out the window as a guarantee of a deal, we’ll believe it when all the Ts are crossed and the Is are dotted…

Freitas (38-1, 32 KOs) targeted Diaz (33-3, 24 KOs), the California Desert Sun reported. The two camps came to a preliminary agreement on Nov. 19 in Brazil.

Diaz told the paper the deal should be completed by Friday.

“This is a whole different fight. This is the kind of fight where I’m fighting to earn my respect,” Diaz said. “Beating [Ricky] Quiles didn’t really put me where I want to be like a Freitas would. I’m just trying to get my respect from the boxing world to get me where I want to be. It’s a big risk I’m taking. He’s a king there, a god.”

The former WBO lightweight champion, 30-year-old Freitas is 18-0 in his native land. So why did the Diaz crew agree to fight on his home turf? One guess….

You got it…money.

Freitas insures a beefy gate, much more than either fighter commands in the states, so it makes fiscal sense.

“I don’t really care,” Diaz said of fighting Freitas in Brazil. “I know what I’ve got. I’m confident I’ll knock him out.”