Luis Collazo gave his hometown fans a thrill by knocking out former welterweight champion Victor Ortiz in the second round at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Ortiz (29-5, 22 KOs) came out aggressively in the opening stanza. He worked the body of Collazo, also a former welterweight titleholder. Collazo was content to sit back and sharpshoot.
In the second round, Collazo, (35-5, 18 KOs) started to find Ortiz’s chin with counterpunches. Ortiz, 26, fighting for the first time since having his jaw broke 19 months ago, missed with most of his heavy shots.
The ending was sudden. Both southpaws missed straight left hands, but Collazo, 32, was faster with the reload. His short right hook snapped Ortiz’s head to the side - causing him to stagger to the ropes and go down on all fours.
Ortiz was unable to beat the count.
The time was 2:59 of round two.
"Coming into this ring, I was excited,” Collazo said in the ring after the fight. “Performing in Brooklyn in front of all my fans, in front of people I grew up with. I'm just stoked."
"A lot of people say I can't punch, but I don't know,” he added.
Ortiz certainly knows. He lost for the third consecutive time. His previous losses were to Floyd Mayweather and Josesito Lopez.
In hindsight, taking on the hungry Collazo appears to have been a mistake. Ortiz timing looked off at times, but that could have been because of the defensive prowess of his tricky opponent.
Collazo went into the bout with something to prove. He was tired of being ignored.
He’s now a player in the talent laden welterweight division.
