Say it ain’t so!
Given how bare the welterweight cupboard is over at Top Rank, I had largely made peace with the next defense for pound for pound elite welterweight titleholder Terence “Bud” Crawford (34-0, 25 KOs) coming against mandatory challenger and fellow Top Rank welterweight Egidijus Kavaliauskas, the man affectionately known as the Mean Machine. That seemed to be the power promoter’s plans and at least the Lithuanian was an unbeaten, well regarded opponent even if he’d still be a massive underdog.
Apparently Bob Arum and company have decided to hold off on the matchup for now, however. Instead ESPN’s Dan Rafael is reporting that his network’s promoter and fight curator is in talks with long time welterweight fringe contender Luis Collazo (38-7, 20 KOs) for the fight instead. Some have taken this as a surprise as Collazo is an Al Haymon managed PBC fighter, but that side has been willing to let their lesser fighters cross into enemy lines for big opportunities. It is the stars of Premier Boxing Champions that stay in house.
The last time we saw Collazo in a big fight was his one sided loss to Keith Thurman in 2015. The New York fighter is 2-0 since then against a solid level of competition in Sammy Vasquez and Bryant Perrella, but those aren’t wins that would make any rational person believe the 37 year old will be able to compete with Terence Crawford. Collazo was also dominated by Amir Khan in 2014.
This is a disappointing fight if it comes to fruition. It looks like it will too. Top Rank doesn’t have a lot of options, true, but that doesn’t mean we have to forgive them for the end product. The top American promoter is going to have to figure out how to get PBC’s deep roster of welterweights to the table or Crawford is not going to have a particularly compelling time at 147 lbs, unfortunately. Hopefully this fight is a step in the direction as unlikely as that seems right now.
