Saddled with the perception that knockouts are a rarity in extreme lighter-weight and women’s fights, champions Oscar Collazo and Gabriela Fundora are flipping the script with how they are dominating.
With nine knockouts in his 12 bouts, unified minimumweight champion Collazo of Puerto Rico will join Coachella Valley-raised and undisputed women’s flyweight champion Fundora, 16-0 (8 KOs), at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California, Saturday night on DAZN with twin ambitions to continue their power-punching shows.
“When you guys see a Fundora, what usually happens? Knockouts,” Fundora said at Thursday’s news conference with her replacement opponent, Alexas Kubicki, 13-1 (2 KOs), of Edmonton, Canada, listening on. “You’ll see one on Saturday.”
Aided by her 5ft 9in frame and 69in reach, Fundora, 23, has dropped or stopped four of her past five opponents, including Marilyn Badillo Amaya in the seventh round in her April 19 main event in Oceanside, California.
Similarly, Collazo, 12-0 (9 KOs), has finished six of his past seven foes early since 2023, including two countrymen of his Saturday main-event opponent, Jayson Vayson, 14-1-1 (8 KOs), of the Philippines.
“When I say I’ll do something, I do it,” Collazo said. “Knocking people out, making people notice me. … Once, no one believed in me or the weights. Look at me. I believe in my work ethic. And the lower weights are shining bright.”
Collazo, 28, is fighting for the eighth time since early 2023, a stretch that includes his WBO title victory over Melvin Jerusalem that year at Fantasy Springs.
“I’m honored to come back,” said Collazo, a Newark, New Jersey-born fighter who now trains in Puerto Rico for promoter and International Boxing Hall of Fame fighter Miguel Cotto.
Collazo said he’s expecting a stout test from Vayson in his first trip to the US because Filipino challengers have proven to “come with hunger and a lot of fight.”
Said Vayson: “I came here to show what I have learned as a true warrior of the Philippines. I will give the best I can. I won’t waste the opportunity to become a champion.”
Collazo is seeking something greater – to stand as the first undisputed champion from Puerto Rico. He also wears the WBA belt, with Jerusalem wearing the WBC strap and Pedro Taduran of the Philippines owning the IBF belt.
“I’m coming for them in 2026,” Collazo said.
Fundora, the younger sister of WBC 154lbs titleholder Sebastian Fundora, already possesses the undisputed title.
In Kubicki, she confronts a confident-speaking top-10 contender who slipped out of her suit jacket to reveal a vest with images of her on the back.
“I’ll be the next and youngest undisputed champion,” Kubicki, 22, proclaimed. “There’s no ‘if.’ I will win. I’m confident, ready and taking her belts back to Edmonton. She’s going to have to pay for my extra baggage. She hasn’t fought anyone like me.”
Fundora smirked, as if further motivated to record another impressive finish.
“Talk is cheap,” she said. “We’ll see who has a better team Saturday night.”
The DAZN card starts at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, with separate bouts featuring Golden Boy Promotions prospects Grant Flores, Ruslan Abdullaev and Joel Iriarte.
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
