Luis Collazo, fighting in his hometown of Brooklyn, knocked out Victor Ortiz at the end of the second round in a stunning end to their welterweight fight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Ortiz was fighting for the first time since having his jaw broken 19 months ago. He came out aggressively in the first round, but was caught by a hard right hook from Collazo with one second remaining in the second round. Collazo pushed the action in the second round, and was winning the round when he caught Ortiz.
Ortiz (29-5-2, 22 KOs), a former welterweight champion, was unable to beat the 10 count, and lost for the third consecutive time. He was stopped in each of the three losses. His previous losses were to Floyd Mayweather and Josesito Lopez, who broke Ortiz’s jaw.
Collazo, also a former welterweight champ, cried after Ortiz was counted out.
“I was excited. performing in Brooklyn in front of all my fans,” Collazo (35-5, 18 KOs) said. “I’m excited man.
“A lot of people say I can’t punch, but I don’t know.”
Asked who he wanted next, Collazo, 32, said, “I want what the fans want. I want Floyd (Mayweather) here in New York. I’m tired of going to Vegas, Floyd, come here to New York and fight me.”
On the undercard, televised by Fox Sports 1, in a battle of undefeated up-and-coming 21-year-old fighters, Eddie Gomez from The Bronx knocked Daquan Arnett from the unbeaten ranks, winning a unanimous 10-round light middleweight decision.
Gomez (16-0, 10 KOs), dictated the tempo most of the way, mixing body shots in with his frequent combinations. Gomez used one of those body shots to put Arnett (11-1, 7 KOs) on the canvas in the 7th round. Gomez won comfortably by all three judges, 97-92 twice and 98-91.
Gomez landed 154 punches to Arnett’s 99.
Also, former Olympian Gary Russell Jr. upped his record to 24-0 (14 KOs) with a fourth-round technical knockout against overmatched opponent Miguel Tamayo.
