Former world champion Luis Collazo (39-9, 20 KOs) retired after losing to Angel Ruiz (18-2-1, 13 KOs) in the main event in a ten-round junior middleweight bout on Wednesday, April 19 at the ProBox Events Center in Plant City, Florida.
Ruiz turned it on in the first minute of the fight and Collazo was hurt a little bit as he bounced off the ropes. Collazo settled in and put together combinations.
Both fighters did damage in back and forth round two, toe-to-toe in the middle of the ring. Collazo went down in final minute of round 3 from a big left – later the referee called a 2nd knockdown as Collazo was being held up by the ropes. Round 5 was Collazo’s best. But, in the first 30 seconds of round 6, Ruiz nailed Collazo with a right to the belly, and Collazo went down to all-fours and was unable to get up.
Collazo: “He caught me with a great body shot. I was getting ready to throw and he threw and beat me to it. For boxing I’m done. This is the end for me now. Ruiz did what he had to do and came out with the victory. I give them credit and wish him nothing but the best. Now I will get to spend more time with my family and with the grandchildren.”
Ruiz: “(To Collazo) Thanks for the opportunity! I felt bad because he is 40 years old but there are many of those [kind of fighters] such as Bernard Hopkins. But they are warriors. They are fighters and you can’t make a mistake with them.
Also on the card, Jose Salas (12-0, 9 KOs) won a ten round unanimous decision over Prince Dzanie (23-1, 19 KOs).
The scores were 100-89, 100-89, and 100-89
Salas controlled the fight and dropped Dzanie at the end of round nine.
