Pretty beguiling co-feature to Gvozdyk vs. Beterbiev on ESPN tomorrow night. On paper it may seem a straightforward case of a former belt holder (from well over a dozen years ago!) being fed to an unbeaten prospect and graduate of a strong amateur program (and it doesn't get much stronger than Uzbekistan in recent years)...but Collazo has been surprising everyone for a decade now...fighting up or down to his opponent's level (ie was competitive with Thurman, but struggled with Steve Upsher Chambers a few years earlier.. ) and springing the odd mild upset (namely Ortiz, Vasquez and Vargas)...and he is by far the biggest step up so far in Abduqaxorov's pro career.
Xabitillo Qudrabullo Abdu Abdu Oxen Free Ogliqaxorov The Uzbek Bivol takes Collazo to slick school tomorrow, and bores the living crap out of all of us in the process.
My only concern for him is his lack of experience versus southpaws... You don't want your first ever lefty in the pros to be a crafty veteran with loads of world class experience. edit: a year after debuting he fought a Pinoy southpaw named Adones Cabalquinto, and took a wide UD12. Encouraging but then I'm not sure how Cabalquinto measures up to Collazo v.14.0
Imagine QXOA blows up so big he becomes a Wheel of Fortune puzzle. I pity the fool that would have to solve that one.
He barely squeaked by Vargas in his last outing. I might have said the same thing a year ago after he came off of pulverizing Perrella, but he did not look good at all last time out. Qudratillo is catching him at the right time IMO.
When I saw Luis Collazo name on this thread, I assumed this was a *Bump* post from the previous decade. OK, he is still fighting. I'll take the guy with the tongue twister for a name by decision.
You've been waiting to type this dude's name out for a while haven't you. Anyone with more than x in their name is good in my book.
I’m seeing quite a few predictions going in Luis favor. Apparently, they think this young guy has bitten off more than he can chew against him.
The Uzbek is very sloppy and not very accurate either. He was missing a lot in the fights i have watched. I wouldn't be surprised if Collazo somehow is able to make it very close like he always does. I also think the southpaw matchup could be a hell for the Uzbek as i saw him moving out to the right side with some balance issues quite a few times and that Collazo left might do the work in such moments. I have a small sized bet on Collazo +509 but take away the numbers i probably would pick Uzbek by close decision (UD, SD, MD). But i wouldn't be shocked if Collazo somehow pulls this off. Even at his age he looked competitive with decent competition recently and the Uzbek far away from being an A level prospect imo.
I mean, he faded into relative obscurity for a while, but then he returned and had a couple of recent high-profile fights - were you in a brief coma when he fought Khan & Thurman?