Collazo overwhelms late replacement Valdez, scores three knockdowns in second-round KO

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Oscar Collazo did not need much time to make his flyweight experiment look easy.

Fighting for the first time above his native 105-pound minimumweight division, Collazo dropped Neider Valdez three times in the second round before the fight was waved off, putting an emphatic stamp on what was supposed to be a measuring-stick night and turning it into a statement instead.

The two-division aspirations started with a wrinkle, then a second one. Collazo was originally booked to defend his unified WBA and WBO minimumweight titles against Joey Canoy, but visa issues forced Canoy out on short notice. A first replacement, Luis Castillo, ran into the same immigration problems and also fell through. Golden Boy Promotions finally turned to Valdez, a Mexican veteran with a 15-3-3 record who had fought just three weeks earlier and had his paperwork in order. The WBO approved him under exceptional circumstances days before fight night and attached its International flyweight title to the bout to give the scrambled main event some sanctioning weight, though that belt carries far less prestige than the world titles Collazo already holds at 105 pounds. The WBA did not bother sanctioning the fight at all.

None of that mattered once the bell rang.

The first round passed largely without incident, a feeling-out stretch that gave little hint of what was coming. Collazo used it to find his timing against the bigger man, and in the second round, he found his opening. He landed a counter left hand that caught Valdez clean on the chin, sending him to the canvas for the first of three knockdowns in the round.

Valdez beat the count each time, but the damage piled up quickly. By the third knockdown, his corner had seen enough. They called for the stoppage themselves, even as Valdez insisted to referee Thomas Taylor that he wanted to keep fighting. The towel decision spared him further punishment against a fighter many consider among the sport’s best, pound for pound.

Valdez had stepped in on short notice after a string of mixed results, including a draw three weeks earlier, and the gap in class showed from the moment Collazo found his range. Still, his willingness to take the fight gave Collazo the chance to test himself at a new weight, and the answer came quickly and violently.

The result pushes Collazo to 15-0 with 12 knockouts, and he made clear afterward that he is not interested in treating flyweight as a one-night detour. “I feel great. I feel great. I love this division,” Collazo told DAZN in the ring. “Matter of fact, I want to stay in the division a long time. Let’s see.”

He did not have to wait long to hear a target floated. Asked about a potential matchup with WBA and WBO flyweight champion Ricardo Sandoval, Collazo’s promoter wasted no time campaigning for it. “I want Oscar Collazo to go up two weight divisions, and let’s do that fight,” De La Hoya said. “It’s the biggest, best fight out there for both guys. Stylistically, it will be a war. It will be a tremendous, tremendous fight.”

Whether that fight materializes remains to be seen, but Saturday's performance did nothing to discourage the idea.