Victor Ortiz vs. Luis Collazo

Oh man, what a mess. atsch Collazo's name misspelled in title, poll set to close a day after the fight takes place...shambolic thread.

Sit tight, fix-up on the way...

 

It would actually make a lot of sense, if not for Collazo's return to form last September.

Until then, Collazo looked done. After his own two-year layoff (competing once more in 2009 after the bitter loss to Berto, off TV, before falling off the grid until 2011) he was in dire shape. Getting dropped and defeated by El Riel, going life and death with Steve Chambers, and struggling mightily to put away tomato cans like Gonzalez and Callist (both way too competitive while they lasted, and both managing to defy multiple knockdowns and show up Collazo's poor finishing skills) - all bad signs.

Then along comes Alan Sanchez, a very hungry and scrappy kid from Cali with a deceiving record (due to some bad early career luck; he could as easily have been coming in 15-0 as 12-2-1...) and to many it seemed the writing could be on the wall for a torch passing, with Sanchez making his name off retiring Collazo.

...then Collazo somehow turns back the clock, pulled out the bag of veteran spoiling ricks, and schooled the kid in a near shutout. :conf

So, yeah, what Luis has left is almost the bigger mystery than what Victor has after so much time off.

In the last three years, Collazo has four dreadful performances and the career-rescuing Sanchez triumph while Ortiz has the knockdown-swapping Berto war, the kayo loss to Mayweather during his "ceremony of apology", and the jaw-shattering by Lopez (whom I actually had up on my card as of the stoppage anyway; all the chirping about Ortiz "dominating" until he got injured is bunkum...)

So predicting how either will look tomorrow night is a total crap shoot.

 

Freak accident, or "No mas! I don't wanna do this anymore! :| I forgot how damn hard boxing is!" when Collazo gives him the ol' slip-and-counter one time too many and maybe opens a cut on his pretty-boy face or something.

That, or yeah, that may have been an last gasp with Sanchez and not the sort of effort Collazo is able to consistently replicate these days...and if his reflexes are too shot to execute that slip-n-counter game or avoid Ortiz's grand slam hooks (and honestly, Sanchez gave him way too much respect and never poured it on him the way Ortiz does...and, though he is a game and gritty kid, is no Ortiz in terms of pop) then it could still be a quick night going the other way.

Really unpredictable, this one. I mostly just bet on Collazo and the Under because of the value.

 

The overlong-running poll was the more egregious sin. :yep