02.09.05 – Dominic Pesoli, President of 8 Count Productions is proud to announce that junior middleweight contender “Classy” Freddie Cuevas will take on former IBF champ Kassim “The Dream” Ouma on Thursday, October 13th at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey presented by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions..
Said Pesoli, “We just faxed back the contract a couple of minutes ago. It’s a great
opportunity for Freddie. A win over Ouma would get him right back in the top of the rankings.”
Cuevas, finishing his workout at JABB Boxing Gym in Chicago stated “This is a great opportunity for me to get back in the rankings. He’s a lefty so I’ll have to find some left-handed sparring partners, I’m sure I’ll be doing some work with (junior welterweight contender) David Diaz. I’m very thankful to Oscar and Golden Boy for the offer and I plan on being at my best come October 13th.”
Heavy handed Cuevas, 25-7-1 (17KO’s) is riding a modest two bout winning streak since his technical decision loss to Kingsley Ikeke in June of 2005, a battle that was stopped after Cuevas suffered an accidental headbutt in the eight round. The 36 year old Chicago native holds knockout wins over former world champions Wilfredo Rivera and Charles Murray. In the summer of 2003, Cuevas went the distance in Little Rock, Arkansas with current middleweight champion Jermaine Taylor in a twelve round slugfest.
The all action Ouma, 21-2 (13KO’s) was unbeaten for six years prior to dropping a twelve round decision to Roman Karmazin six weeks ago in Las Vegas. Ouma won the IBF title from Verno Phillips in October 2004 and defended it against Kofi Jantuah in January of this year. Over the course of his seven year career, Ouma has beaten champions and contenders including J.C. Candelo, Carlos Bojorquez, Michael Lerma, Tony Marshall, Alex Bunema and James Coker.