Collazo Defends Unified Straweight Crowns, But a Filipino Dream Got Sidelined
The strawweight division doesn’t usually make the headlines the way heavyweights or super middleweights do. But this Saturday in Oceanside, California, Oscar Collazo puts his WBA and WBO 105-pound titles on the line in a fight that carries a quiet sting for Philippine boxing fans.
Collazo (12-0, 8 KOs) was supposed to face Filipino challenger Joey Canoy. That was the plan. Canoy earned his shot the hard way — grinding through the regional circuit, winning an IBF Pan Pacific title, building a 20-5-1 record with 12 KOs. He wasn’t a hand-picked mandatory. He was a genuine contender who fought his way into the conversation.
Then the visa happened.
Late this week, Canoy was forced out after failing to secure travel documents in time. Enter Neider Valdez — a 27-year-old Colombian (10-1-2, 7 KOs) who gets the call on less than a week’s notice. It’s the kind of late-replacement drama that happens often in boxing’s smallest weight class, where purses are thin and promotional machinery is thinner. Valdez gets a life-changing opportunity. Canoy gets another chapter in the long, frustrating book of Filipino fighters being denied their moment by logistics, not by anything that happens inside the ropes.
What to Expect Saturday Night
Collazo is the real deal at 105. The Puerto Rican southpaw won the WBO belt in 2023 and added the WBA strap last year when he outpointed Thammanoon Niyomtrong in a unification that flew under the radar but was genuinely high-level stuff. He’s quick, he’s precise, and he carries enough pop to keep smaller men honest — five of his last seven wins have come inside the distance.
Valdez is stepping way up in class. His resume is built on Colombian domestic-level opposition, and he’s never been past eight rounds. He does have a draw with Leyman Benavides — the same Benavides who gave then-champion Kenshiro Teraji a competitive fight — which suggests he won’t simply fold. But there’s a reason this fight was approved as a late replacement: the sanctioning bodies don’t expect an upset.
Stylistically, Collazo should control this with his footwork and the southpaw jab. Valdez likes to come forward and work the body, which plays into Collazo’s counterpunching strengths. Expect Collazo to bank early rounds, break Valdez down, and find a stoppage somewhere in the middle rounds — rounds 6 through 8 feel right.
The Undercard Worth Watching
The DAZN card also features Ashton Sylve against veteran Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jr. at junior welterweight. Diaz is the name you know — a former IBF junior lightweight champion who’s fought the likes of Devin Haney, Shakur Stevenson, and William Zepeda. He’s 33 now and his best days are behind him, but he’s exactly the kind of gatekeeper test a prospect like Sylve needs. If Sylve looks sharp, he graduates from “keep an eye on” to “genuine contender.” If Diaz has anything left, this gets interesting fast.
Also on the card: Yair Gallegos in a stay-busy fight, and a handful of young prospects in four and six-rounders. It’s not a stacked card by any stretch, but the top two fights have real stakes.
Next Week: Zayas-Ennis Is the Real Prize
If this weekend feels like the appetizer, next Saturday in Brooklyn is the main course. Xander Zayas defends his WBA and WBO junior middleweight titles against Jaron “Boots” Ennis in what might be the most compelling 154-pound matchup we’ve seen in years.
Zayas (22-0, 13 KOs) has been groomed for this moment since he signed with Top Rank as a teenager. He’s faced increasingly credible opposition and passed every test — most recently a dominant win over Patrick Teixeira. Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs) moved up from welterweight after cleaning out everyone not named Terence Crawford. His power traveled with him; his first fight at 154 was a two-round demolition.
The stylistic contrast is what makes this appointment viewing — the kind of strategic matchup chess players would appreciate. Zayas is a technician — sharp combinations, excellent footwork, fights beautifully off the jab. Ennis is a finisher — explosive, physically imposing, capable of ending a fight with either hand. The question is whether Zayas can keep Ennis at range for twelve rounds or whether Boots eventually walks through the fire and lands something fight-changing.
I lean Ennis. Not comfortably — Zayas has the skills to make this a long night — but Ennis’ power at 154 looks genuinely frightening, and he’s shown he can close the show against durable fighters. If Zayas wins, he enters the pound-for-pound conversation. If Ennis wins the way I think he might, we’re looking at a new star in a division that’s been waiting for one.
The Bigger Picture
Beyond this weekend and next, boxing’s calendar is quietly stacking up. July 25 brings Errol Spence Jr.’s return against Tim Tszyu in Australia — Spence hasn’t fought since the Crawford loss, and how he looks at 154 will tell us whether he’s still elite. August 29 gives us Mikaela Mayer vs. Chantelle Cameron in a women’s junior middleweight unification that might be the most competitive fight on the 2026 schedule, period. And September 12 is Canelo Alvarez challenging Christian Mbilli for the WBC super middleweight title in Riyadh — two months before Pacquiao-Mayweather 2 lights up the same city on November 26.
The Bam Rodriguez story keeps building too. Fresh off his sixth-round destruction of Antonio Vargas at bantamweight, the conversation has shifted from “is he pound-for-pound?” to “how high?” Eddie Hearn is talking openly about a Naoya Inoue showdown at junior featherweight. That fight — Bam vs. The Monster — is the kind of matchup that sells itself to hardcore fans, and the timing feels urgent with Inoue considering a move to 126.
And in the heavyweight division? Joshua vs. Fury remains the fight everyone wants but nobody can seem to book. Zuffa Boxing’s Dana White claims he’s promoting it. Fury’s manager says no contract exists. Eddie Hearn called White “clueless.” Same heavyweight circus, different week.
The Bottom Line
This weekend isn’t the biggest on the boxing calendar. But for Oscar Collazo, it’s another step toward unifying a division that rarely gets the spotlight. For Neider Valdez, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime on a week’s notice. And for Joey Canoy — and Filipino boxing fans watching from across the Pacific — it’s a reminder that sometimes the hardest fight in this sport isn’t the one in the ring.
Catch Collazo vs. Valdez live on DAZN this Saturday, June 20, from Oceanside, California.