By Daniel Leal
The Falcao brothers are looking to become the new superstars of Brazil’s sweet-science.
After the 2012 London Olympic Games, middleweight Silver medalist Esquiva Falcao, and his older brother Yamaguchi, who achieved 3rd place in light-heavyweight competition, created fans from the biggest South America country. They became more enthusiastic about the perspective of having a new world champion in the professionals.
Since the days of Acelino Freitas, the sport hasn’t produced an idol in Brazilian boxing, and things weren’t looking that good for many years.
The Falcao brothers took a little longer than expected to turn pro - with both making their move in 2014. Esquiva chose Top Rank as his promotional company, while “Guchi” preferred the proposal from Golden Boy Promotions proposal.
Now they’re both getting ready to challenge the best fighters in the middleweight rankings. To get there, they will continue to stay busy next month when they return in two separate events.
Esquiva, who is younger by two-years and is 17-0 with 12 knockouts, will take another step towards a world title on August 5th when he faces Ivan Montero (20-2, 8 KO’s) as part of the undercard to Vasyl Lomachenko’s WBO super featherweight title defense against Miguel Marriaga. The Olympic Games runner-up, who lost a controversial decision to Ryota Murata in the game’s final, occupies the 31st position at the World Boxing Council ratings and he's already looking for revenge against the Japanese superstar in the pros.
Ate the age of 29, Yamaguchi holds a 13-0 winning record with six victories coming by knockout. In his last bout, he overcame the then nineteen fight undefeated Morgan Fitch, by completely dominating the action in the ring. He will be headlining the show at the A La Carte Event Pavillion in Tampa, Florida on August 12th against the tough journeyman Taronze Washington (17-23, 9 KO’s). The oldest of the Falcao brothers is the current WBC Latino champion and is listed as number #20 in their rankings.
Although they are still in the process of working their way to the top, the brothers have already made the Brazilian fans full of hope to finally see a 5th man achieving what only the great Eder Jofre, Miguel de Oliveira, Acelino Freitas and Valdemir Pereira were able to accomplish. That's why they both live and train in the United States. While Yamaguchi is part of the Plant City Gym in Florida, Esquiva, who began living in Las Vegas since turning pro, is now under the guidance of Robert Garcia, in Oxnard, California.
To continue the growth of Brazilian boxing, the Falcao brothers need to surpass these upcoming challenges in style.
ADD COMMENT