Brazilian bomber Acelino Freitas and Cuban defector and boxing master Joel Casamayor fought Saturday night. With current jr. lightweight king Floyd Mayweather Jr. moving up and out of the division, the Freitas-Casamayor showdown was to determine the new boss at 130 pounds.

Freitas won the decision.

Casamayor proved he is the division's best fighter.

Freitas answered the opening bell very aggressively, but was unable to land many clean blows as a result of Casamayor's extremely tight defense. Still, because of several good bodyshots, Freitas carried the first frame. The next four rounds were similar, and combined with a knockdown of Casamayor in the third, and a point deducted from Casamayor for hitting on the break, it seemed that Freitas had an insurmountable lead going into the sixth. The "knockdown" in the third was actually a slip by Casamayor, yet if you scored the first five rounds for Frietas, with the point deduction for hitting on the break and a point for the knockdown, you would have Freitas ahead by seven points, with seven rounds to go in the fight.

It is quite possible that Casamayor swept the last seven rounds, and therefore deserved a draw. Certainly the former Cuban gold medalist was in complete control over the second half of the fight and even looked as if he was on the verge of stepping up his offense and stopping Freitas. The role reversal in the fight was startling, reminiscent of the first Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns fight.

Just about halfway through the match, Freitas, the aggressive puncher (like Hearns), began running from Casamayor, who is normally a more defensive boxer (like Leonard). But Casamayor never did step up his offensive output enough to put the Brazilian away.

Freitas deserves credit for fighting the second half of the fight not only with his heart, but with his head.

Casamayor is a very experienced fighter, owning an amateur resume that any fighter would find difficult to match. Once Freitas realized that his best shots were not hurting Casamayor, he became unnerved.

Casamayor sensed this and began to bully Freitas increasingly as the rounds went on. Freitas, lacking Casamayor's experience and overall skills, stopped his bodypunching, which had been the difference in the fight up until the sixth round, and began fighting to survive.

Freitas' punches from the sixth round on lacked steam as he winged them from his shoulder without the full weight of his body behind them. Yet he was smart enough to stop moving forward, which in his fatigued state (he has struggled to make the 130-pound limit for some time now) would have played right into Casamayor's cagey hands. In this way, Freitas made an adjustment Mike Tyson was unable to make against Evander Holyfield and Felix Trinidad was unable to make against Bernard Hopkins. Both Tyson and Trinidad kept coming forward and ultimately met their doom. Freitas used his speed and athleticism, rare assets for a pure puncher of his caliber, to avoid most of Casamayor's offerings for the remainder of the fight. He also refused to entirely wilt and fired back just enough to keep Casamayor honest.

It was a good fight between two very good fighters. There was drama the whole way, a major shift in momentum midway through the bout, and the outcome was in doubt not only through the final seconds of the 12th round, but right up until the scorecards were read. All three judges scored it the same way: 114-112 for Frietas. Interestingly all three Showtime's unofficial ringside judges, Pedro Fernandez of Ringtalk.com, Steve Kim of Maxboxing.com and Flattop of Fightnews.com (three of the juiciest boxing sites on the net) all also had Freitas the winner by the identical score (114-112). Pretty safe to assume that 114-112 was the right call. At least it was the popular one with those who scored the fight ringside.

If Mayweather in fact moves up in weight as he said he would after his latest masterpiece at the expense of Jesus Chavez, then Freitas should be recognized as the champion of the division. I would, however, make Casamayor the favorite to beat anyone at junior lightweight, and that includes Freitas in a rematch. If Floyd sticks around for another fight or two, he would embarrass either one. One last thought: the Diego Corrales that Mayweather humiliated to establish his supremacy at 130 would have likely been bested by Casamayor, though certainly not to the extent Mayweather dominated him. Freitas, however, doesn't last the full 12 against that Diego. Floyd is that good -- he destroys guys who can beat almost everyone else.

Friday Night Fights

This last Friday on Friday Night Fights, Eric Morel, who is fast creating a consensus that he is the best flyweight in the world, turned in an entertaining performance against a world-class, tough and experienced Alex Baba. We have seen both Morel and alphabet title counterpart Irene Pacheco several times over the last couple of years on Friday Night Fights. Morel has consistently been the more impressive of the two. A fight between Morel and Pacheco to unify two thirds of the "recognized" alphabet titles while simultaneously creating an attractive opponent for the great Ricardo Lopez, would be good to see.

Meanwhile, this Friday on FNF we have one of my very favorite fighters, Julian Letterlough, the light heavyweight bomber who has never been in a dull fight in his life, against the hard-punching David Telesco, a bigger, maybe stronger, and certainly more experienced contender. Match making ain't rocket science, folks.

This one is going to be great. Not only do you not want to miss it, but as Teddy Atlas said during the early rounds of the Fight of the Year last year between Mickey Ward and Emanuel Burton, call your friends and tell them about Letterlough-Telesco. They'll thank you for it.

Max Kellerman is a studio analyst for ESPN2's Friday Night Fights.