ANAHEIM, Calif. – Gabriela Fundora has driven home a point throughout the promotion, though her actions long ago backed up her words.
Fundora, the undefeated and undisputed flyweight queen, is geared up for her latest championship defense, a WBA title consolidation clash with Viviana Ruiz.
Their scheduled 10-round bout is part of a loaded four-fight show. Fundora-Ruiz shares the stage with: the Oscar Collazo-Jesus Haro unified 105lbs championship; the all-Los Angeles battle between Alexis Rocha and Joseph “JoJo” Diaz; and the Arnold Barboza Jnr-Kenneth Sims Jnr 147lbs crossroads fight atop Saturday’s DAZN card from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Given the lineup, it’s easy for Fundora, 17-0 (9 KOs), to get lost in the shuffle – both as a flyweight and where women still have to fight for their place at the table in this sport. However, she long ago found the quickest way to draw attention.
“Who doesn’t like knockouts?” Fundora rhetorically asked when playfully challenged by host Beto Duran to expand on her promise to steal the show.
Fundora has stopped all but one of her past six opponents since arriving on the title stage, including three in a row. She blasted out four-time flyweight titlist Arely Mucino inside five rounds to win the IBF 112lbs title more than two years ago, and knocked out Gabriela “La Chuky” Alaniz to fully unify the division in their November 2024 undisputed clash.
Two more knockouts were added in 2025, and Fundora plans to continue that streak this weekend. It’s not arrogance or even a dismissive belief that Ruiz, 10-2 (5 KOs), doesn’t belong here. It’s more so the dedication put in by her entire team to prove that in-ring greatness comes in all sizes – and genders.
“It’s not just me that gets in the ring,” noted Fundora of the family affair. “It’s the hard work that my father [head trainer Freddy Fundora] puts in, my brother [WBC 154lbs titlist Sebastian Fundora], who’s fighting in two weeks.
“We put out a video for all the young kids to show … your dreams are possible. As long as you put the hard work in and are determined, you can go far.”
The message wasn’t directly told by Fundora to her opponent at any point, though clearly it’s a walk of life for the first-time challenger.
Ruiz has experienced an incredible journey to reach this point. The 43-year-old late bloomer had never even given boxing a thought by the time she left her native Colombia for a better way of life in Australia. An engineer by trade, she took up the sport in her new surroundings and managed to overcome significant adversity to claw her way to the title stage.
A 10-round win over Maria Rivera netted Ruiz the WBA interim 112lbs title last April 26 in Nathan, Australia. She is now tasked with trying to take down one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
“It’s super-important,” Ruiz said of completing her mission. “I’ve been working so hard and started at a late age. I left Colombia, started boxing in Australia. I’ve worked so hard, and getting all the belts will make this worth it.”
Puerto Rico’s Collazo still carries the same mentality, even with two of the four major 105lbs titles in tow, as well as the lineal and Ring championships.
Still, Collazo, a 29-year-old southpaw from Villalba, still has to fight for respect.
It’s an unfortunate occupational hazard when you are a 5ft, 2in strawweight, though he has done his best to change the culture in male boxing’s tiniest weight division.
Similar to Fundora, Collazo, since his first title fight, has been a knockout nearly every time out. Fittingly, they added to their KO totals on a shared stage last September in Indio, California.
Collazo has emerged victorious inside the distance in six of seven fights with at least one belt at stake, including stoppages in each of his title-winning efforts. Collazo forced Melvin Jerusalem to quit after six rounds to claim the WBO belt in May 2023. Six defenses have followed, including a pound-for-pound-level performance in a seventh-round stoppage of long-reigning and unbeaten WBA titlist Thammanoon Niyomtrong in their November 2024 unification bout.
Collazo became the first-ever Ring Magazine strawweight champion with the win, and also reestablished championship lineage that was broken since Hall of Fame legend Ricardo Lopez abandoned the division in 1999.
The run has been so spectacular that his own Hall of Fame co-promoters – Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto – are stunned as to why the proper accolades have yet to follow.
“I do want to say, the fact that Oscar is … going on his seventh title defense. But … lately, the Ring Magazine rankings have been a little distorted,” noted De La Hoya, the promoter for Saturday’s show, who took a well-timed jab at the publication he previously owned for nearly two decades. “I don’t understand how they can’t rank Oscar Collazo No. 1 or No. 2 in the pound-for-pound list. That’s how good he is.
“Oscar Collazo has been fighting world champions, unifying titles. He works hard but fights so smooth in the ring and takes care of business. That merits you to be No. 1, No. 2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. I don’t know what the ranking systems are now and how they decide. But Oscar Collazo should be No. 1 or No. 2.”
There remains work ahead for the diminutive Collazo, and a win over the 23-year-old Haro, 13-3 (2 KOs), won’t necessarily take him to the promised land.
That said, extending his current three-fight stoppage streak will go a long way toward adding to Collazo’s already-impressive credentials.
“KO-llazo,” joked the charismatic Boricua of his new ring moniker. “This is all humbling for me. I’m at the minimum weight, I’m trying to highlight this division. We try to inspire others down here to keep going. Work hard and we’ll make things happen.”
