Oscar Collazo walked away with the win on June 7, when he faced Gerardo Zapata at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. The Puerto Rican southpaw successfully retained his world title against the challenger of Nicaragua by decision.
The scheduled for 12 rounds bout went the full distance. In the second round Collazo was in trouble, after Zapata landed a big right. Nevertheless, the champion recovered and came out on top with the scores 117-110, 119-109 and 119-109.
With the victory by unanimous decision, Oscar Collazo made the third successful defense of his WBO minimumweight belt. The 27-year-old native of Newark, New Jersey improved to 10-0, 7 KOs and remained undefeated.
Gerardo Zapata didn’t succeed in his first attempt to become champion. The 29-year-old contender, who made his U.S. debut, dropped to 14-2-1, 5 KOs.
“He hit me with a good shot. It landed well. He had a lot of power to him,” Oscar Collazo said post-fight. “We boxed intelligently and enacted our plan. Champions are able to stay strong and get stronger with adversity. You get knocked down, you wobble, and you get back up stronger and more intelligent. I showed that tonight. I want any champion next.”
In Collazo vs Zapata undercard action
In the scheduled for 10 rounds co-main event, Eric Tudor (11-1, 7 KOs) of Fort Lauderdale, Florida KO’d Roddricus Livsey (12-3-1, 9 KOs) of Atlanta, Georgia with a right body shot. The welterweight bout was halted at 2 minutes and 19 seconds into the opening round.
Among other Collazo vs Zapata results, Mykquan Williams (21-0-2, 10 KOs) of Hartford, Connecticut stopped Mexico-based Willmank Canonico Brito (12-6-2, 10 KOs) of Venezuela with a big right hand at super lightweight. The official time was 2 minutes and 13 seconds into the third round.
Plus, David Stevens (14-1, 10 KOs) of Reading, Pennsylvania claimed the win against Sergio Lopez (14-6, 10 KOs) of Argentina in the opening round at super middleweight. The latter was successful early in the round, but then was dropped twice. The time was 2:13 into the first round.
Kicking off the main card, Mexico’s Yair Benjamin Gallardo-Lozano (8-0, 7 KOs) dominated Michael Ruiz Portalatin (7-3, 5 KOs) of Puerto Rico with a series of unanswered punches at light heavyweight. The referee stepped in and waved the fight off at 1 minute and 18 seconds into the second round.
Among the prelims, Bryce Mills (16-1, 5 KOs) of Syracuse, New York defeated Phoenix, Arizona-based Jose Marruffo (14-14-2, 2 KOs) of Mexico by unanimous decision. After six rounds at super lightweight the scores were 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55.
In addition, Sasha Tudor (1-0-1, 1 KOs) of Romania earned his first win as a pro, stopping Manuel Moreira (1-6) of Sheridan, Wyoming at 1:10 into the first round at super welterweight.
The event was held during Boxing Hall of Fame Induction Weekend.