Luis Collazo (born April 22, 1981) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who held the WBA

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

title from 2005 to 2006.

Professional career

Collazo is of Puerto Rican descent, and grew up in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. Collazo won the WBA Welterweight title on April 2, 2005 with a 12-round split decision victory over defending champion Jose Antonio Rivera. However, the WBA had elevated

Cory Spinks Cory Spinks (born Cory Calvin; February 20, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2013. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed welterweight title from 2003 to 200 ...

to "Undisputed Champion" status before he had lost his titles to

Zab Judah Zabdiel Judah (born October 27, 1977) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2019. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the IBF and WBO junior welterweight titles between 2000 and 20 ...

, so Collazo was not yet the definitive champion of that organization. On January 7, 2006, Judah lost a 12-round decision to Carlos Baldomir in New York. Baldomir had chosen to pay the sanctioning fee of the WBC only; as a result Judah's WBA undisputed title was vacated. With Judah's loss, Collazo then attained recognition as the WBA's sole welterweight champion. On May 13, 2006, he lost the title to

Ricky Hatton Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world championships at l ...

in a very tight and controversial affair which went the distance. On February 10, 2007 he lost a 12-round unanimous decision versus Sugar Shane Mosley in which he injured his hand early in the fight and continued on till the end. After working back from the injury through rehab and aggressive training, by long-time trainer Nirmal Lorick, Luis fought on the Roy Jones Jr. vs. Félix Trinidad card, January 19, 2008 at Madison Square Gardens. He won a one-sided victory against Edvan Dos Santos Barros (9-5-1, 7 KOs), winning 100-90 on 2 judges' scorecards and 99-91 on the other. On September 28, 2008 on the Mosley vs. Mayorga undercard, Collazo stopped Russell Jordan (now 15-6) in the eighth and final round of their bout. On January 17, 2009, Collazo fought the undefeated

Andre Berto Andre Michael Berto (born September 7, 1983) is a professional boxer who holds dual American and Haitian citizenship. He is a two-time former welterweight world champion, having held the WBC and IBF titles between 2008 and 2011, as well as the ...

for the WBC Welterweight. Collazo lost a very close fight and a controversial unanimous decision after 12 rounds. Collazo appeared to be ahead most of the fight. The scores were 113-114, 113-114 and the third judge Bill Clancy scored the bout 111-116 which was found by some to be controversial. On January 30, 2014, Collazo defeated Victor Ortiz in the first match up for Ortiz since his jaw was broken. Collazo landed a right hook to Ortiz in the last second of the second round which ended the match after the 10 count. Luis Collazo also faced Amir Khan in 2014, Khan dominated all rounds and scored three knockdowns during the fight.

Collazo vs. Vargas

On March 17, 2019, Collazo, ranked #10 by the WBO at welterweight, fought WBA's #10 Samuel Vargas. After a slow start, Collazo found his rhythm and outboxed Vargas enough to earn a split-decision victory, 98-92, 96-94 and 94-96.

Collazo vs. Abdukakhorov

In his next fight, Collazo fought Abdukakhorov, who was ranked #1 by the IBF, #5 by the WBC and #11 by the WBO at welterweight. The fight was competitive in the first half, but the younger, fresher Abdukakhorov prevailed in the second part of the fight. At 2:03 in the tenth round, Collazo was cut badly after a clash of heads and was not able to continue the fight. Abdukakhorov was awarded a technical decision victory.

Professional boxing record

References

External links