From the moment Zahir Raheem turned pro, his career has been a struggle. Not in the ring, mind you. Rather, a struggle getting meaningful fights.
The reason: Few top fighters want to tangle with a crafty, skilled boxer whose limited box-office appeal makes facing him an unnecessary risk.
So when Raheem (27-1, 16 KOs), a 1996 U.S. Olympian from Philadelphia, finally got the chance to face a star opponent, he jumped at it last September.
Then he proceeded to pull off a major upset, easily outpointing junior lightweight star Erik Morales in front of a large HBO audience and a packed Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Just the sort of high-profile victory that would propel him to stardom, right?
Dead wrong.
Morales, loss be damned, went into a multimillion-dollar rematch with Manny Pacquiao.
And Raheem? Instead of being flooded with offers for big fights, he remained in virtual anonymity.
It was as though the Morales fight never happened.
Raheem was offered $20,000 fights on untelevised Telefutura undercards. He even suffered the ultimate indignity of being offered a slot on the Morales-Pacquiao II undercard, which he turned down on principle, and he hasn’t fought since.
“He couldn’t get his heart into those type of fights, and rightfully so. Not after beating Erik Morales on HBO,” manager Cameron Dunkin said.
“After I won, I thought I would get another marquee fight. I thought I would get a title shot, that they would be beating down my door to fight me,” Raheem said. “I thought it would be no problem, smooth sailing. But you know what? I got no phone calls for no fights.
“I called the phone company and asked them if they were misdirecting my phone calls. I couldn’t believe no one wanted to fight me. It was like I had the plague and everyone wanted to stay away from me.”
Raheem, 29, paused for a moment.
“Then, finally, this fight came up and I took the opportunity,” he said.
Freitas
“This fight” is Saturday night, when Raheem faces former two-division beltholder Acelino “Popo” Freitas for a vacant lightweight title at the Foxwoods resort in Mashantucket, Conn., in the main event of the season premier of “Boxing After Dark” (HBO, 10:15 ET/PT).
So what took so long?
“I couldn’t answer that question,” Raheem said. “Ask my manager, my promoter. They’re the ones with the answers. They told me they couldn’t get me a big fight. What happened? I couldn’t tell you.”
“We had offered him fights, different kinds of fights,” said Todd duBoef, the president of Top Rank, Raheem’s promoter. “He decided not take them, which we understood. We offered him stepping-stone fights, not marquee-level fights, and his expectations were at a higher level. But the market was not screaming for Zahir Raheem vs. anybody. So we offered the stepping-stone fights to get there. But then, thankfully, this Freitas fight came up and Zahir is getting a second crack at fighting on a marquee level.”
The title fight comes after 10 years as a pro, a decade in which Raheem watched Olympic teammates Floyd Mayweather Jr., Fernando Vargas, Antonio Tarver, Eric Morel and David Reid all win championships.
“They saved the best for last,” Raheem joked.
Reid is retired. Morel is in jail. Vargas and Tarver are in the twilight of their careers. Yet Raheem appears to be finally coming into his own.
“If you look at the group of guys I came out with, some guys went to the top really fast like Reid, and now are no longer around,” he said. “Then you have guys like Vargas, Mayweather and Tarver. Look at that crop? That’s the pedigree I come from. I believe in myself and in my dream. I knew I always had to just work hard and it will come to pass. I had to work a little harder than others. Nothing in life is easy.”
Although Raheem admitted he was frustrated with the aftermath of the Morales fight, he said he never got too down. He stayed hungry and continued training.
Raheem’s fight with Freitas (37-1, 32 KOs) didn’t materialize because the Brazilian icon wanted to fight him. It came about because Freitas had no choice if he wanted to fight for the vacant belt. Freitas was the WBO’s No. 1 challenger and promoter Artie Pelullo hoped to match him with former titlist Julio Diaz for the vacant belt. But Raheem — who will earn $210,000, not the millions he hoped for after the Morales bout — was ahead of Diaz in the ratings and Pelullo could not bypass him.
“ Beating Morales was a very significant win, but I want to keep going so I can leave a legacy in boxing. … My goal after I beat Freitas is to fight every intriguing matchup I can find. ” — Zahir Raheem
“Even with this fight, it wasn’t like my handlers went out of their way to find it for me,” Raheem said, speaking without an ounce of bitterness in voice. “It fell into my lap. It’s just business. I’m not a big draw, not a cash cow. I understand that. It’s not personal. I’m fortunate though. I stayed in the gym and now I am going to beat Acelino Freitas. I was mandatory for the title shot. I earned the spot and I am happy for the opportunity to have this marquee fight.
“Beating Morales was a very significant win, but I want to keep going so I can leave a legacy in boxing. That win was just the tip of the iceberg. My goal after I beat Freitas is to fight every intriguing matchup I can find.”
Dunkin, who has handled numerous world champions, was almost as frustrated as Raheem since the Morales fight. He said was surprised to find such a lack of interest from the networks and opponents even though he did all he could to secure a meaningful fight.
“I think Morales was a big win and woke people up to Zahir a little bit, but he needs this one,” Dunkin said. “This is the one he needs real bad. A lot of people said the Morales fight was a fluke.
“This is the fight he has to win because if he does, people will realize it wasn’t a fluke. I think it gives him a chance for HBO to open their eyes to him. They will also see, like in the Morales fight, that he’s a fun guy to watch. He throws punches, he stays inside, he fights and he doesn’t run. He’s not afraid to get in there and exchange punches. But he has to do it with Freitas. This is the fight that puts him over the hump.
“This is the fight where everyone will stop for a second and say, ‘Wait, he can really fight and we want to see him in with the best.’ Believe me, he is ready.”
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
