One moment, it appeared Jayson Vayson was preparing for a second-half run to upset unified minimumweight champion Oscar Collazo. Seconds later, his assistant trainer was waving the fight over.

As Vayson fought tears, Collazo rose to the shoulders of his cornermen, waving the Puerto Rico flag, having successfully defended his WBO and WBA belts Saturday at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California.

The end came at the 1-minute, 41-second mark of the seventh round, as referee Thomas Taylor interrupted the action after two nondescript body shots by Collazo.

With a left black eye, Vayson tried to explain.

“My corner thought I was breaking. I wanted to fight,” Vayson said. “I respect the decision of the corner for the safety of the boxer.”

Asked if he was hurt in the seventh after Collazo backed him to the ropes and landed some scoring head shots, Vayson, 14-2-1 said, “I felt the punches in the body, but I felt I could manage it.”

The three scorecards each favored Collazo 59-54 (five rounds to one) at the time of the stoppage, and the champion said he felt the end was imminent.

“I was putting a lot of pressure on him, digging in the shots. That’s the round we were going for the finish,” said Collazo, 13-0 (10 KOs). “I knew I was going to apply pressure from the first round. … I was breaking him down. I knew I was going to get him.”

The DAZN crew harshly criticized the Vayson corner’s decision after the naturally bigger contender kept the bout competitive into the seventh.

Collazo’s jab set Vayson up to control the fight’s pace early as the southpaw returned to the venue where he first became champion and scored a first-round knockdown on a rapid right-handed punch that seemed to be the effect of his forearm.

Vayson answered in the second, delivering a clean, heavy blow. Collazo exercised caution through the round’s remainder.

Collazo pressured Vayson to the ropes in the third, hammering the Filipino with lefts to the head and body.

The pair produced an entertaining exchange in the fourth, when Collazo again went after the challenger and then absorbed an abundance of painful body shots before responding with more scoring head shots.

Collazo pulled further ahead in the fifth, slamming power lefts and a hard scoring right to close the round.

Vayson’s comfort in fighting at heavier weights allowed him to roll off Collazo shots in the sixth and pound the champion with head and body shots.

Although judges Fernando Villarreal, Zachary Young and Rudy Barragan had the champion leading widely, the bout seemed up for grabs.

It wasn’t, as Collazo secured a third victory over a Philippines fighter since May 2023, leaving him to consider pursuing an undisputed title at 105lbs, moving up to junior flyweight to face WBO titleholder and countryman Rene Santiago or going all the way up 112lbs to seek Golden Boy Promotions promotional mate and new unified champion Ricardo Sandoval.

“If I don’t go after that unification [at minimumweight] or take the fight at 108, I’ll go to Ricardo Sandoval. Puerto Rico versus Mexico is always a good matchup,” Collazo said.

Promoter Oscar De La Hoya said before the bout that Sandoval is a “great challenge for [Collazo] in the near future.”

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.