His nickname is "Pop?" given to him by his mother, after the sound that babies make while drinking milk.
Freitas had a not easy childhood, often sleeping on a sandy floor at his house. Early on, he dreamed of a better place to live for his family. Although a skilled football player, he was more tending towards the sport of boxing since an early age. Brazil's Eder Jofre, who is generally recognized as the greatest world champion to come out of that country, was one of Freitas's childhood heroes.
Freitas became a professional boxer on July 14, 1995 against Jose Adriano Soares. With his win by knockout in the first round that night, Freitas set off a streak of 29 knockout wins in a row, which is one of the longest knockout win streaks in boxing history. His first eleven wins were against low level competition, but for his twelfth fight he took on the much more experienced Edwin Vazquez, knocking him out in the seventh round.
Between 1997 and 1998, Freitas won four more boxing fights and then took on Francisco Tomas Da Cruz, a former world title challenger of Julio Cesar Chavez. Freitas handled Da Cruz with a knockout in two rounds and then added three more knockout wins before getting his first world title shot. That happened on August 7, 1999, when he challenged WBO junior lightweight champion Anatoly Alexandrov. Freitas became the world champion by knocking Alexandrov out in round one. Soon after, he signed a contract with Cable TV giant Showtime, which began to telecast Freitas's boxing fights throughout the United States. Freitas then made five defenses of his world title and one non-title bout, all of which ended in knockout wins. Then he went to London, and took only 45 seconds to beat Daniel Alicea
