Khan vs. Collazo to fight for WBC Silver 147lb strap on 5/3

By Boxing News - 04/10/2014 - Comments

khan43By Scott Gilfoid: The World Boxing Council has come to the rescue for the May 3rd fight between Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) and Luis Collazo (35-5, 18 KO’s) by having the two fighters battle over their vacant WBC Silver welterweight strap on the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Marcos Maidana undercard at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The idea of #2 WBC Khan and the #15 WBC Collazo fighting for the Silver strap loses any meaning that it otherwise would have when you look at how low the WBC has Collazo ranked. I mean, if they’re going to put up their WBC Silver strap, they should at least make sure that it’s two highly ranked fighters rather than one guy with an inflated ranking like Khan and another guy who is a bottom dweller. I could understand Khan and #1 WBC Luis Carlos Abregu fighting for the WBC Silver strap, but definitely not Khan and Collazo. That doesn’t make any sense at all.

Previous WBC Silver 147lb strap holders are as follows: Selcuk Aydin, Abregu, Josesito Lopez, and Roberto Ortiz. The belt changes hands constantly, and that’s off putting to me. I mean, why doesn’t someone hold onto the strap if it was any good? If I was Khan and Collazo, I’d tell the WBC, ‘No thanks, I want to wait until I fight for a major belt, not some made up one that changes hands 24/7.’

I wouldn’t want that strap. That’s like fighting over a consolation prize. That’s the last thing I’d want if I were dreaming of a world title strap the way that Khan and Collazo are. I don’t see either of them winning one while Mayweather is still around, but just getting a fight with him seems to be the prize that they’re looking for.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer “These are two exciting former world champions and this fight has the potential to steal the show.”

Even Khan was blabbing about how he might steal the show by putting on a great performance against Collazo that will steal the show from Mayweather in his fight against Marcos Maidana. I don’t see it happening unless Khan ends up getting knocked out. If that’s the case, then, yeah, I agree. Khan-Collazo will steal the show.

Khan is too sloppy, and makes way too many mistakes for him to steal the show from a talented fighter like Mayweather. On May 3rd, Khan will do what he always does by rushing Collazo, looking to land his combinations to either try and impress the boxing fans or to get back at Collazo for having landed a hard shot. With that kind of attacking style, I half expect the fight to be over quickly once Collazo times Khan to connect on his chin while he’s rushing forward.

Golden Boy seems to be trying to give Khan the Mayweather fight on a silver platter by matching him against the 32-year-old Collazo, who has been out of the main stream for years, instead of relevant guys like Keith Thurman. Casual fans who saw Collazo’s recent win over the ring rusty Victor Collazo are lathering at the mouth thinking that Collazo is the real deal because of that win. The reality is that pretty much anybody could have beaten Ortiz in that fight. It just happened to be Collazo who got the fight instead of someone else. Believe it not, that was Collazo’s fight since 2009 when he got beat by Andre Berto.



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