Keith Thurman to defend against Luis Collazo on 7/11

By Boxing News - 05/21/2015 - Comments

thurman331211By Dan Ambrose: WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (25-0, 21 KOs) will be taking an optional title defense against 34-year-old former WBA 147lb champion Luis Collazo (36-6, 19 KOs) on July 11th in a fight on Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN in Tampa, Florida.

Thurman, 26, is coming off of a grueling 12 round unanimous decision win over former two division world champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero last March. Thurman won decisively, but he suffered a bad bruise on his forehead from a head clash early in the fight.

Thurman was hit a lot by Guerrero until he got on his bike and started boxing him instead of slugging it out with him.

Collazo was soundly beaten by Amir Khan last year in May of 2012 in a one-sided loss. Collazo landed only occasionally against Khan, and he took a real battering in the fight. In his last fight, Collazo defeated little known fighter Christopher Degollado by a 2nd round knockout last April.

Thurman wants to face guys like Khan, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, but he’s still not a big enough name to get the Mayweather and Pacquiao fights. Khan doesn’t seem interested in fighting Thurman. His opinion might chance in the future if Khan eventually runs out of opposition to fight.

For Thurman, this has got to be seen as a step down for him from the Guerrero fight because Collazo hasn’t done much in boxing in many years. The biggest thing that Collazo has accomplished lately was his 2nd round knockout loss over former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz in January 2014. It was a good win for Collazo, but he really didn’t accomplish much because Ortiz was coming off of a long layoff and he hasn’t been the same fighter since he was stopped by Mayweather Jr. in 2011.

Collazo previously held the WBA title from 2005 to 2006 before losing it to Ricky Hatton by a controversial 12 round decision. Many boxing fans felt that Collazo deserved the decision in that fight, but it wasn’t surprising that he lost the fight due to Hatton’s popularity at the time. Collazo’s career went downhill after the loss to Hatton, as he was beaten by Andre Berto, Shane Mosley and Freddy Hernandez before suffering the loss to Khan.

Collazo currently isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies, and you have to wonder if the World Boxing Association will sanction this fight.
Also on the card is unbeaten junior middleweight Tony Harrison battling Willie Nelson.



Comments are closed.