Oscar Collazo-Gerardo Zapata Set For June 7 In Verona, NY As Part Of Hall Of Fame Weekend

Oscar Collazo will get a taste of the Hall of Fame life during his next title defense.

The Ring has confirmed that Puerto Rico’s unbeaten WBO 105-pound beltholder will next face Nicaragua’s Gerardo Zapata. Their bout will headline a June 7 DAZN show from Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.

The show comes as part of the annual Hall of Fame weekend. Verona is one exit east of the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.

Collazo (9-0, 7 knockouts), No. 2 at 105 by The Ring, most recently defended his belt on January 27 in Phoenix, Arizona. The 27-year-old from Villalba, P.R. knocked out Nicaragua’s Reyneris Gutierrez in the third round to defend his WBO title.

All three of his major title fights have ended inside the distance as part of a four-fight knockout streak. Collazo won the belt last May 27 in a sixth-round stoppage of the Philippines’ Melvin Jerusalem in Indio, California.

Jerusalem (22-3, 12 KOs), No. 3 at 105, has since claimed the WBC title. It came in an upset win over Yudai Shigeoka (8-1, 5 KOs), No. 5 at 105, on March 31 in Nagoya, Japan.

Collazo—co-promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Miguel Cotto Promotions—has welcomed a rematch, this time to unify two titles. First, he will have to turn away his latest challenge.

Zapata (14-1-1, 5 KOs) gets a makeup call after he was denied a title shot last fall.

The 29-year-old contender was due to face WBO 108-pound titlist Jonathan ‘Bomba’ Gonzalez last October 27 in his Managua hometown. Gonzalez fell ill during fight week and withdrew from the event. The development came too late to secure a replacement opponent for Zapata, who dropped off the show.

As a consolation prize, Zapata now gets a second chance at a first career major title fight. He will have to drop down in weight to do, as well as find the win column. Zapata fought to a draw versus Azael Villar last August. Prior to that, he was disqualified in the second round of a December 2022 junior flyweight fight versus Rene Santiago.

Fittingly, Santiago went on to challenge Gonzalez (28-3-1, 14 KOs) for the WBO 108-pound title. Their March 2 all-Boricua title fight in San Juan saw Gonzalez, No. 1 at 108, win via unanimous decision.

Zapata makes his stateside debut in the upcoming title challenge.

Collazo will fight for the first on the East Coast. Wedged in between his wins over Jerusalem and Gutierrez was a homecoming headliner. Collazo stopped the Philippines’ Garen Diagan in the third round of an August 26 DAZN main event in San Juan.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
Follow @JakeNDaBox

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