Former welterweight titleholder Luis Collazo (36-7, 19 KO’s) suffered the second stoppage loss of his career on Saturday when he and his corner agreed to stop his fight against Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 KO’s) due to a severe cut above his right eye.
It was Collazo’s first stoppage defeat since 2002 to Edwin Cassiani.
Although Thurman was in control for a majority of the bout, Collazo had his moments of brilliance. In the fifth, Collazo got Thurman on the ropes, landing a devastating liver blow, a shot that knocks out 95% of fighters, according to Teddy Atlas.
Thurman’s comments after the fight regarding the body blow, obtained from the Associated Press, contained irony.
“It was a perfect body shot that took 95 percent of the wind out of me,” Thurman said. “I actually thought about taking a knee, but being the champion I am, I didn’t want to do that. But, it was probably the best shot I’ve taken in my career.”
Collazo thinks if he had more time in the fifth, he would have been able to floor Thurman, but he still gave him credit for earning the victory, speaking with Boxing Scene.
“I can’t take nothing away from him, he stood up. He’s a champion,” Collazo said. “He’s a good fighter, he still has ways to go, but he’s in the right direction climbing up the ladder.”
Collazo suffered the nasty cut in the seventh round as a result from an accidental clash of heads, which caused his vision to be greatly impaired. Ultimately, his corner had to ask him a question at the conclusion of the round.
“Do you want me to stop this?” questions a man from the corner.
“That’s up to y’all. I can’t see. That’s what I’m telling you,” Collazo said.
There was some confusion whether the fight would go to the scorecards. If the referee had halted the bout, the fight would have gone to the scorecards because the cut was caused by a butt and not a punch.
However, because Collazo and his team stopped the bout, it was a technical knockout victory for Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman.
Collazo talked about the build-up to landing the ferocious body shot, followed by the cut with Boxing Scene.
“I’m a great fighter inside and I felt that was his weakness and going through the fight, the longer it went, the closer I was getting,” Collazo said. “Then, the cut came, and I couldn’t see. I got to be safer than sorry right now. I’m not a quitter. I wanted to keep going, but I also want to keep fighting and I don’t want to take unnecessary shots in a situation like that, so me and my corner decided to stop the fight.
“Once I caught him with the body shot, he got on his bike, and I had a feeling he’d do that the whole fight. He probably had like 10 seconds left in the round. If I probably had 30 more seconds, I would have at least got an eight count because I believe he would have taken a knee.”
Collazo has now lost two of his last three fights.
