Puerto Rico has produced dozens of great world titleholders. Oscar Collazo hopes to add his name to that list.

Collazo has the opportunity to win a world title belt, as he squares off against WBO world 105-pound titleholder Melvin Jerusalem on May 27 at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. 

The 12-round bout will precede the main event bout between welterweight contender Alexis Rocha and Anthony Young. Both fights will stream live on DAZN (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT).

The Jerusalem-Collazo fight will be an attractive fight between fighters ranked in the top-10 by The Ring. Jerusalem and Collazo are ranked No. 3 and 10, respectively. 

Jerusalem (20-2, 12 knockouts), who resides in General Santos City in the Philippines, will attempt to make the first defense of the WBO title. In his last bout on January 6, Jerusalem stopped Masataka Taniguchi in the second round. 

The 29-year-old has won his last nine bouts since losing back-to-back fights to Chayaphon Moonsri and Joey Canoy in 2017. Moonsri was the WBC world titleholder when he defended the title belt against Jerusalem, who lost a close fight to the Thai fighter. 

Collazo (6-0, 4 KOs), an amateur standout, has been pushed on the fast track since making his pro debut in February 2020. 

In just his fifth pro fight, which took place on July 16, Collazo won a hard-fought 12 round unanimous decision over Victorio Saludar, another Thai fighter, in a WBA world title eliminator. Collazo, who currently resides in Villalba, Puerto Rico, dropped Yudel Reyes twice en route to a knockout win in round 5 of his last bout on January 28. 

The 26-year-old is co-promoted by Golden Boy and Miguel Cotto Promotions. Collazo could join the likes of Carlos Ortiz, Wilfredo Benitez, Wilfredo Gomez, Ivan Calderon, Felix Trinidad, and Miguel Cotto as great fighters from Puerto Rico to win world title belts. 

In the co-main event of the Golden Boy Promotions card, lightweight Oscar Duarte will face D’Angelo Keyes of Houston, Texas in a 10-round bout.

Duarte (25-1, 20 knockouts), who resides in Parral, Mexico and is co-promoted by Golden Boy and Cancun Boxing, last fought on March 18, scoring a knockout win over Alex Martin. The 27-year-old has won his last 10 fights, all by knockout, since a split-decision loss to Adrian Estrella in February 2019.

Keyes (17-2, 11 KOs) stopped Daniel Briceno after the fifth round of his last bout on August 19. The 26-year-old has won his last two bouts since a decision loss to Eridson Garcia in December 2021. 

In the opening bout of the DAZN stream, unbeaten junior bantamweight Jonathan ‘Scrappy’ Ramirez (11-0, 8 KOs) will square off against Fernando Diaz (12-3-1, 4 KOs) of nearby Riverside in a 10-round bout.

The 26-year-old Ramirez defeated Luis Villa Padilla by unanimous decision on February 23, which also took place in Indio.

Middleweight Eric Priest (9-0, 7 KOs), junior lightweight Leonardo Sanchez (4-0, 3 KOs) and Johnny Canas (pro debut) will see action in separate bouts that will stream live on Golden Boy Boxing’s YouTube page. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

Follow @FSalazarBoxing