Oscar Collazo is Focused on Taking Care of Business on Saturday Before Focusing on WBC Champion

It’s been an interesting fight week for the WBO, WBA, and Ring Magazine minimumweight champion Oscar Collazo (14-0, 11 KOs), who headlines a Golden Boy Promotions card on Saturday night, live from the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, CA.

His original opponent, Joey Canoy, was unable to secure a visa in time for the fight, leaving Miguel Cotto Promotions and Golden Boy scrambling to find an opponent. On Thursday, the WBO approved Neider Valdez (15-3-3, 12 KOs) to step in for Canoy. During the official press conference in Carlsbad, CA, Golden Boy’s president, Eric Gomez, said they had been working on the visa issue for almost two months. He also stated that a few of their fighters have faced similar issues due to stricter visa approval regulations. When you speak to Collazo, whether it was Canoy or whoever, he was going to be ready.

“We know that these things are bound to happen,” he said. “We saw the potential with all the problems with visas. So what we did was we changed sparring. On Tuesdays, we sparred righties, and on Wednesdays, we sparred lefties. That’s why I didn’t worry. I kinda knew it was going to happen. We had Plan B and C. Thank God and thanks to Golden Boy that we found a fighter.”

Although staying busy is what fans want to see from their champions, title unifications have been the talk of boxing at every weight class. The 105 lb division is no different, and many thought Collazo would be fighting one of the other champions in these title defenses. Anything outside of unification is not what fans want to see from Collazo. But he wants to make it clear that if successful on Saturday night, the unification with WBC champion Siyakholwa Kuse is on the immediate radar.

“We wanted those unification fights,” Collazo told FightsATW. “We wanted those big fights, but business-wise, we couldn’t. (Pedro) Taduran got his mandatory. Melvin Jerusalem just lost, so the important thing was to stay active. I know those fights are bound to come.”

“Most likely, after this fight, we are looking at (Siyakolwa) Kuse. He raised his hand to fight. We are waiting on that confirmation, winning this fight with a good knockout, and then calling him out.”

One of the most skilled and entertaining fighters in boxing will fight this Saturday on DAZN. If Collazo successfully defends his titles, the hope is that the next time we see him fight, it’s against one of the other champions. But first, he must get by Valdez.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is a 2x award-winning writer, International Boxing Hall of Fame voter, founder and publisher of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms, including online, network TV, and promotional companies. He is an alumnus of an American Public University and a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, and contributed to The Ring Magazine, FanSidedMMA, and ProBoxTV.

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