OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Oscar Collazo did not need much time to make his flyweight experiment look easy.
Fighting for the first time above his native 105-pound minimumweight division, Collazo dropped Neider Valdez three times in the second round before the fight was waved off, putting an emphatic stamp on what was supposed to be a measuring-stick night and turning it into a statement instead.
The two-division aspirations started with a wrinkle, then a second one. Collazo was originally booked to defend his unified WBA and WBO minimumweight ******* les against Joey Canoy, but visa issues forced Canoy out on short notice. A first replacement, Luis Castillo, ran into the same immigration problems and also fell through. Golden Boy Promotions finally turned to Valdez, a Mexican veteran with a 15-3-3 record who had fought just three weeks earlier and had his paperwork in order. The WBO approved him under exceptional circumstances days before fight night and attached its International flyweight ******* le to the bout to give the scrambled main event some sanctioning weight, though that belt carries far less prestige than the world ******* les Collazo already holds at 105 pounds. The WBA did not bother sanctioning the fight at all.
None of that mattered once the bell rang.
The first round passed largely without incident, a feeling-out stretch that gave little hint of what was coming. Collazo used it to find his timing against the bigger man, and in the second round, he found his opening. He landed a counter left hand that caught Valdez clean on the chin, sending him to the canvas for the first of three knockdowns in the round.
Fighting for the first time above his native 105-pound minimumweight division, Collazo dropped Neider Valdez three times in the second round before the fight was waved off, putting an emphatic stamp on what was supposed to be a measuring-stick night and turning it into a statement instead.
The two-division aspirations started with a wrinkle, then a second one. Collazo was originally booked to defend his unified WBA and WBO minimumweight ******* les against Joey Canoy, but visa issues forced Canoy out on short notice. A first replacement, Luis Castillo, ran into the same immigration problems and also fell through. Golden Boy Promotions finally turned to Valdez, a Mexican veteran with a 15-3-3 record who had fought just three weeks earlier and had his paperwork in order. The WBO approved him under exceptional circumstances days before fight night and attached its International flyweight ******* le to the bout to give the scrambled main event some sanctioning weight, though that belt carries far less prestige than the world ******* les Collazo already holds at 105 pounds. The WBA did not bother sanctioning the fight at all.
None of that mattered once the bell rang.
The first round passed largely without incident, a feeling-out stretch that gave little hint of what was coming. Collazo used it to find his timing against the bigger man, and in the second round, he found his opening. He landed a counter left hand that caught Valdez clean on the chin, sending him to the canvas for the first of three knockdowns in the round.
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