One of the most impressive performances of November belongs to Oscar Collazo, who unified the WBA and WBO strawweight world titles earlier this month with a technical knockout of Knockout CP Freshmart.
Before the loss, Freshmart was the longest-reigning titleholder in boxing. He’d been the WBA’s primary titleholder at 105 pounds dating back to June 2016, had made 12 consecutive successful defenses and came into the ring in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with an undefeated record of 25-0 (9 KOs).
And then Collazo dropped Freshmart three times and stopped him in seven rounds.
The 27-year-old Collazo, who lives in Puerto Rico, left quite an impression on his promoter, Eric Gomez, the president of Golden Boy Promotions.
“This guy is one of the most exciting fighters in boxing. His boxing IQ is way up off the charts,” Gomez said in a recent interview on Dan Rafael’s Fight Freaks Unite podcast. “He really is one of the best fighters, pound for pound, in the world. He keeps proving it. Someone mentioned to me, you know, he reminds me somewhat of a [Vasiliy] Lomachenko. I mean, that kind of IQ. His footwork, the combinations, counterpunching, the way he sets up his fight. It’s incredible. I love watching this kid. He’s so exciting. We’re expecting big things. You know, he’s a small weight, but he carries a big punch.”
Collazo is now 11-0 (8 KOs). Almost half of his career has seen him in world title fights, beginning with a win in his seventh pro outing in May 2023, when he seized the WBO belt from Melvin Jerusalem via seventh-round TKO. There have since been four successful defenses, including this unification win against Freshmart.
Jerusalem has since gone on to regain a world title, dethroning Yudai Shigeoka by split decision in March for the WBC belt. The IBF title belongs to Pedro Taduran, who defeated Yudai’s younger brother, Ginjiro Shigeoka, via ninth-round TKO in July.
“We’ve already been contacted by both champions, and they want to fight him,” Gomez said. “It’s hard to make a star in that weight class, and there hasn’t been one in such a long time. But you see, there’s a difference with this kid. And the advantage that he has is that he has an entire island behind him. As you know, there’s a rich history in boxing with Puerto Rico. And right now, at this time, there isn’t really a standout champion [from there].
“He’s the guy, he can be the one. You know, he’s clean cut, speaks English [and] Spanish. They love him in Puerto Rico. And his fame is just growing there. And you know as well as I do, if you get the island behind you, they’ll travel, and they’ll come out and see you, no matter where you fight. And we’re getting to that point. He’s in the newspapers every day. He’s on the TV news every day. This kid has star potential written all over him.”
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
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