Victor Ortiz takes on Luis Collazo on January 30th

By Boxing News - 11/08/2013 - Comments

ortiz5By Dan Ambrose: Golden Boy Promotions has pulled Victor Ortiz (29-4-2, 22 KO’s) from the December 14th Showtime card and moved him to January 30th against former WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo (34-5, 17 KO’s) at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. Ortiz-Collazo will be the headliner bout. There still isn’t an undercard yet, but Golden Boy will eventually get to that over time.

This is going to be test for Ortiz, because he’s been beaten in his last two fights by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Josesito Lopez. Golden Boy has backed Ortiz off a little from top opposition by putting him in with Collazo. If Ortiz loses this fight too then Golden Boy will need to take Ortiz back and slowly rebuild him from the very start. He’s missed close to two years of his career due to the broken jaw he suffered in his loss to Josesito Lopez and his subsequent decision to take part in Dancing with The Stars and to act in a Sylvester Stallone movie.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said to ESPN “This is not a tune-up fight. This is a real fight, but if Victor can come back and show what he can do with Collazo, he will be right back in the middle of the mix at 147 lbs…It’s a highly anticipated comeback against another former champion.”

Schaefer may see this as not a tune-up, but that’s kind of what this is. Collazo isn’t a top 15 world contender, and when you’re not fighting a top 15 guy at this stage in Ortiz’s career, then it’s got to be considered a tune-up. If this fight had taken place 4-5 years ago when Collazo was still a relevant fighter in the 147 lb. division, then it wouldn’t be considered a tune-up, but Collazo has been out of it for so many years that he’s no longer a top 15 ranked guy.

It’s been 4 years since Collazo last fought a world ranked contender in his 12 round unanimous decision loss to Andre Berto in 2009. Since that loss, Collazo has fought the following welterweights: David Gogichaishvali, Freddy Hernandez, Franklin Gonzalez, Steve Upsher Chambers. Miguel Callist and Allan Sanchez. Collazo has backed away from high quality opposition.

With Schaefer matching him against a soft opponent instead of a world class opponent, Ortiz needs to win this fight easily for him to be considered worthy to fight the top welterweights in the division.

Ortiz needs to stay at 147 because he struggles when he faces opposition that return fire and fight hard. If he moves up to 154, guys like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will pound him into submission.



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