By Ian S Palmer
Former WBC welterweight boss Victor Ortiz will take on former WBA titleholder Luis Collazo in his comeback bout this Thursday, January 30 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The scheduled 10-round WBA International title bout between the two southpaws can be seen on Fox Sports 1 in the U.S. and on the Fight Network in Canada. This is Ortiz’s first bout after sitting on the sidelines for the past 19 months and it’s taking place in Collazo’s backyard.
The 27-year-old Ortiz of Oxnard, California will be entering the ring with a record of 29-4-2, along with 22 Kos. The 32-year-old Collazo carries a record of 34-5 with him and has 17 Kos to his name. Ortiz could obviously have some ring rust to battle through and he’s also aiming for a win after losing his last two bouts. He was last in the ring in June 2012 and had his jaw broken in a defeat to Josesito Lopez and he called it quits while sitting on his stool after round nine.
He took quite some time off after the injury to recuperate and recharge his batteries and now feels he’s in peak condition and is hungry to get back in the ring. Some fans may have forgotten him due to the long layoff, but he has been one of the most exciting fighters in the sport up until now. However, a third straight loss definitely won’t help out his career and bring back the fans.
Before losing to Lopez, Ortiz was stopped in the fourth round by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in controversial fashion back in 2011. Mayweather nailed him when Ortiz was attempting to touch gloves in a gentlemanly fashion. At the time Ortiz felt he should apologize to Mayweather for blatantly attempting to head butt him just a few seconds earlier. Ortiz felt Mayweather hit him with a cheap shot and is hoping for a rematch someday.
That’s not going to happen though if he can’t take care of Collazo first. In fact, Ortiz might have difficulty landing any big-money and big-name fights if he isn’t successful on Thursday night. This is much more than a tune-up fight for Ortiz as it’s very important to his career that he earns a win. Collazo is a good boxer, but at five years older than Ortiz he’s entering the latter stages of his career.
It’s also a big outing for Collazo if he hopes to get another shot at a world title. He’s won, but his last big-name opponent was Andre Berto back in 2009 and he lost that bout by unanimous decision. Since then he’s beaten the likes of Alan Sanchez, Steve Upsher Chamber, Miguel Callist, Franklin Gonzalez, David Gogichaishvili and lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Freddy Hernandez. By looking at this list it’s easy to see he hasn’t taken on any contenders, but has won three in a row. Therefore he’s stepping back up in class with Ortiz.
When he has stepped up in class in the past, Collazo has had trouble. Along with losing by decision to Berto he also lost on points to former world champions Ricky Hatton and Shane Mosley. He did manage to stop Miguel Angel Gonzalez in the eighth round to win his title, but lost to Hatton in his first defense. Ortiz has also faced some top talent in Mayweather, Berto, Lopez, Marcos Maidana, Lamont Peterson, Vivian Harris, Nate Campbell, and Antonio Diaz.
These two boxers matchup pretty evenly in size and they’ve both faced some good opposition, but the experience nod should probably go to Ortiz. Collazo can take a good punch and even though Ortiz has been on the deck a few times he’s still got a pretty solid chin. This could turn into a bit of a brawl and if it does then it’s going to be a coin toss. Whoever can dictate the action, get off first and throw and land the most punches is simply going to win this bout. Collazo has the hometown fans behind him, but the best he’s probably going to do here is earn a draw. So to simplify things, Ortiz won’t lose this fight.
