By Jeff Aranow: Former WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo (36-7, 18 KOs) successfully weighed in at 145 ½ pounds on Wednesday for his fight against Sammy Vasquez (21-1, 15 KOs) on Thursday on Premier Boxing Champions on FS1 and FOX Deportes at the Horseshoe Casino, Tunica, Mississippi.
(Photo credit: Ryan Greene/Premier Boxing Champions)
Vasquez, 30, weighed in at 146 pounds for their scheduled 10 round fight. This is a must win fight for both fighters, especially the 36-year-old Collazo, who has lost two out of his last three fights and hasn’t fought in 19 months since his 7th round stoppage loss to WBA World welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman on July 11 in 2015.
Collazo hasn’t fought since then, and it’s not good news that he’s coming back to such a tough fight against Vasquez. You’d like to see a fighter like Collazo to have fought at least once in the past year, because it’s important to stay busy when you get up there in age like he is right now.
Collazo was also beaten soundly by Amir Khan by a 12 round unanimous decision in May 2014. Collazo took a beating in that fight and didn’t do much against Khan. Collazo’s last win came against Christopher Degollado in stopping him in the 2nd round in April 2015.
Vasquez was beaten in his last fight by Felix Diaz by a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision on July 16, 2016. The fight was scored as a close 10 round decision by the scores 95-94, 96-93 and 95-94, but the fight was one-sided in favor of Diaz. The judges may not have seen it as a one-sided fight, but it was very one-sided. Vasquez got dominated in that fight.
Vasquez needs to win against Collazo and win in an impressive fashion. If he’s going to amount to anything in the welterweight division, he’s to win impressively.
In other weights on the card, Cuban welterweight Yordenis Ugas (17-3, 8 KOs) weighed in at 146.8 pounds for his 10 round fight against Levan Ghvamichava (17-2-1, 13 KOs). For his part, the 30-year-old Ghvamichava weighed in at 147.2 pounds.
These are a couple of good but flawed welterweights with decent punching power and talent. Ghvamichava is coming off of a 7th round knockout win over Briedis Prescott last July.
Prescott is the same Colombian fighter that knocked out Amir Khan in the 1st round in September 2008. Prescott’s career has gone downhill since then. Ghvamichava was stopped by Sergey Lipinets in the 5th round in March of 2016. The 31-year-old Ghvamichava was also beaten by Alberto Herrera by a 6 round split decision in July 2013. Ghvamichava was held to a 6 round draw by Abel Ramos in May 2014.
Ugas, a 2008 Cuban Olympian, was beaten by Johnny Garcia by an 8 round split decision in March 2012, Emmanuel Robles by a 10 round split decision in February 2014, and Amir Imam by an eight round unanimous decision in May 2014. Ugas has won his last two fights in beating Jamal James by a 10 round unanimous decision in August 2016 and Bryant Perrella by a 4t round knockout in September 2016. Ugas’ win over James was a fairly big surprise to a lot of boxing fans, because they figured he’d lost that fight.
The official weights for the card are as follows:
Sammy Vasquez 146 vs Luis Collazo 145.5
Yordenis Ugas 146.8 vs Levan Ghvamichava 147.2
Ryan Karl 142.6 vs Eddie Ramirez 142.2
Jose M Borrego 141.8 vs Tomas Mendez 142
Michael Seals 177.4 vs Dennis Sharp 170.8
Justin Jones 241.8 vs Rodney Moore 223
Jean Pierre Augustin 216 vs Danny Phippen 247.6
Austin Dulay 134.8 vs Rynell Griffin 138.2
Promoter: Premier Boxing Champions
Venue: Horseshoe Casino, Tunica, Mississippi
TV: FS1 and FOX Deportes