Golden Boy, Cotto Promotions win Melvin Jerusalem-Oscar Collazo title fight purse bid

Melvin Jerusalem celebrates with his team after a second-round stoppage of Masataka Taniguchi in January 2023. (Photo from Zip Sanman)

Feb

by Anson Wainwright |

Golden Boy and Cotto Promotions won the right to promote the WBO strawweight title fight between reigning titlist Melvin Jerusalem and mandatory challenger Oscar Collazo at the WBO headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Monday.

The GBP/Cotto partnership’s winning bid of $152,000 beat Kameda Promotions’ offer of $101,000. The fight will take place in either San Juan, Dallas or Los Angeles on May 27. Jerusalem is entitled to 75 percent, which amounts to $114,000, while Collazo will get the remaining 25 percent, totalling $38,000.

Jerusalem (20-2, 12 KOs), the Ring-rated No. 3 strawweight, turned professional in 2014. He bested former titleholder Florante Condes (MD 8) and experienced campaigner Jonathan Refugio (UD 10) on his way up. The 29-year-old Filipino gave then-WBC titlist Wanheng Menayothin all he could handle in 2017, ultimately losing a 12-round unanimous decision but only by a razor-thin margin, with the fight taking place on Menayothin’s home turf.

Jerusalem surprisingly dropped a decision to Joey Canoy (UD 10) but has rebounded with eight successive victories, which included shocking Masataka Taniguchi (TKO 2) to annex the WBO 105-pound title in January.

Oscar Collazo (Photo courtesy of Miguel Cotto Promotions, LLC)

Collazo (6-0, 4 KOs), rated No. 10 by The Ring, was a decorated amateur. He won five national titles, gold at the 2019 Pan-Am games and had aspirations of representing his country at the 2020 Olympics. However, with his weight class not being recognized at the Olympics, he decided to make the switch to professional boxing.

Since switching to the pro side of the sport in February 2020, he has beaten Jerusalem’s countryman and former WBO titlist Vic Saludar (UD 12). Earlier this year, the 26-year-old Puerto Rican southpaw won a WBO title eliminator by stopping Yudel Reyes (KO 5).

Both men enter the fight in fine form on the back of scoring impressive early stoppage wins in January. On paper, the fight looks very intriguing and is potentially an even matchup.