ANAHEIM, Calif. – Oscar De La Hoya told anyone who would listen that he had a pound-for-pound top-two talent in Oscar Collazo.
Regardless of the extreme hyperbole, Saturday’s clash with Jesus Haro was never going to further the case for the unified 105lbs king to advance among the sport’s very best.
In the end, it amounted to little more than a time marker for Puerto Rico’s Collazo. Their one-sided DAZN co-feature ended in anti-climactic fashion, as Haro’s corner opted to pull the plug after six rounds Saturday evening at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
“It was about to happen,” Collazo told DAZN’s Chris Mannix of the stoppage. “He came to survive. The body shots were hurting him by the fifth round.
“We knew the stoppage was going to come.”
Collazo, 14-0 (11 KOs), retained the lineal and unified Ring, WBA and WBO strawweight championship with his eighth title fight victory. All but one have ended inside the distance, prompting the Boricua southpaw to adopt the ring moniker “KO-llazo.”
Sadly, the aim had been to extend that streak against former foe and current WBC 105lbs titlist Melvin Jerusalem on Saturday. The two sides previously agreed to terms for the three-belt unification bout (four, counting the Ring title). However, budgetary issues – given the ongoing situation between Golden Boy and DAZN discussing a new multi-year deal – prevented the attractive matchup from landing on this show.
Collazo was instead presented with a woefully outgunned challenger in Haro, 13-4 (2 KOs), a light-hitting mover from Merced, California.
It still served a purpose, as Puerto Rico needed a win after its baseball team was eliminated from the World Baseball Classics in a heartbreaking 8-6 loss to Italy earlier in the day.
As for the fight, it was clear from the outset that Haro’s only conceivable path to victory was to frustrate the heavier-handed Collazo through constant lateral movement. Collazo seemed generally unbothered, though the tactic (perhaps) delayed the inevitable.
By Round 3, Collazo – who was attempting the seventh defense of his WBO belt and third as the lineal and unified champ – was able to slow down Haro and continually land to the body. The smooth southpaw Collazo made the ring a very small place for Haro, as he connected with straight shots and right hooks without having to worry about anything remotely threatening in return.
A stoppage victory appeared imminent as Haro’s body language drastically worsened with each passing round. Still, even referee Thomas Taylor seemed surprised when the first-time title challenger would not come out for Round 7 on the advice of his corner.
“I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t think he was going to come out for Round 6,” Collazo believed. “So he lasted a round longer.”
Despite the general waste of time that came with Saturday’s mismatch, it served as means to an end. BoxingScene has confirmed that plans remain firmly in place for Collazo and Jerusalem to run it back, hopefully by later this summer.
Jerusalem, 25-3 (12 KOs), will first enter a separate rematch, as he again risks his WBC belt versus Siyakhola Kuse on May 16 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The bout will come seven months after Jerusalem edged Kuse via unanimous decision in Manila, Philippines.
Collazo defeated Jerusalem to win the WBO belt in May 2023. A 32-year-old Filipino, Jerusalem has since won five in a row, including a victory over Yudai Shigeoka in March 2024 for the WBC strap.
Meanwhile, Collazo has emerged as the class of the division. He added the WBA title and the vacant Ring championship in a November 2024 beatdown and stoppage win over long-reigning titlist Thammanoon Niyomtrong.
Two more knockout victories – along with the combination of the fall of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and the inactivity of top light heavyweights Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev – have seen Collazo crack the pound-for-pound top 10.
There is the temptation to move up to 108lbs – and beyond – to collect even more belts. For now, though, there exists the belief that Collazo can advance in the pound-for-pound sense through full unification in his current weight division.
“It’s very important. I want to scale the pound-for-pound rankings,” stated Collazo. “Right now I’m No. 10; by the end of the year, I want to be at least top five.”
