Pinto, Kelson

Kelson Pinto was born on November 26, 1976 in Aracaju , Sergipe State, Brazil .

Amateur career

He first made his name in 1997, becoming the champion of Brazil in the welterweight and winning the international tournament in Buenos Aires. A year later, he won again in the standings of the Brazilian national championship.

He achieved the first serious success on the adult level in the 1999 season when he joined the main team of the Brazilian national team and visited the Pan American Games in Winnipeg , from where he brought the silver dignity award - in the decisive final match with a score of 1: 8 lost to Argentinian Victor Ugo Castro . In addition, he won a silver medal at the Monomakh Cup in Vladimir, won the international tournament in Costa Rica.

In 2000, he took the upper hand over all rivals in the tournament grid at the American Olympic qualification in Tijuana, and thanks to this victory won the right to defend the honor of the country at the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney . The first opponent in the category up to 63.5 kg successfully passed the Games, but in the second match at the 1/16 final stage he was stopped by the representative of Uzbekistan Muhammadkadyr Abdullaev , who eventually became the winner of this Olympic tournament ^{[1] [2]} .

Professional career

Soon after the end of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Pinto left the location of the Brazilian national team and successfully debuted on a professional level. Almost four years remained undefeated, having won a total of 21 victories. He won the champion titles of Brazil among the professionals in the first welter and welterweight, the title of champion of Latin America according to the World Boxing Organization (WBO) in the first welterweight, the title of champion of the North American Boxing Organization WBO in the welterweight.

Having risen in the rankings, in 2004 he received the right to challenge the vacant WBO world title in the light welterweight class, while Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto , who had already won Pinto amateur, was another challenger. The fight turned out to be unsuccessful for the Brazilian boxer, in the second and fifth rounds he twice fell in a knockdown, and in the sixth round, after another series of missed punches and the third knockdown, the referee decided to stop the bout, including technical knockout.

Subsequently, he fought four more times on a professional level. In October 2005, he boxed with American veteran Wins Phillips for the title of champion of Continental America according to the World Boxing Council (WBC), but lost a technical decision after the fifth round. The last time he performed as a professional in August 2008 at a home tournament in Brazil, beating a little-known local boxer ^[3] .

Coaching Work

After completing his sports career, he took up coaching. As a boxing trainer, he collaborated with many Brazilian MMA fighters, including taking part in the preparation of Tiago Tavarisa .

• Kelson Pinto (Eng.) - professional fighting statistics on BoxRec website
• Kelson Pinto - Olympic Statistics at Sports-Reference.com