Oscar Collazo isn’t interested in landing on any top prospect lists.

An ambitious push has the 25-year-old Puerto Rican southpaw racing straight to the contender stage. Collazo (4-0, 3KOs) immediately embraced the chance to face former WBO strawweight titlist Vic Saludar (21-5, 1!KOs) this weekend at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The bout is a scheduled 12-round title eliminator, putting the winner in line for a shot at one of the WBA strawweight title.  

“I expect a world title fight after this,” Collazo told BoxingScene.com. “That’s why we took this eliminator. After I win, I’ll be ranked number one. Whether it’s Erick Rosa or [WBA “Super” champ Thammanoon Niyomtrong], or even the WBO champion [Masataka] Taniguchi, I’m ready for all of those guys.”

The eagerness to fight for a major title less than three years as a pro follows a brilliant amateur career. Collazo was a five-time national champion in his native Puerto Rico and a Gold medalist during the 2019 Pan-Am Games. The absence of the light flyweight division in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics forced a bitter end to Collazo’s amateur days, turning pro in February 2020 and with his eyes on a prize from day one.

Following his third-round knockout of Pedro Villegas last December in Panama, Collazo summoned the brass at Promociones Miguel Cotto to secure a title shot. In his sights was Dominican Republic’s Rosa (5-0, 1KO), who is due to make his U.S. debut later this year and is considered among the division’s brightest young stars.

When a fight with Rosa couldn’t materialize, Collazo eventually settled for Philippines’ Saludar and where a win would make him the mandatory challenger to Rosa’s version of the strawweight crown.

“We wanted the fight with Rosa. He wants to fight the “Super” champion and he asked for this voluntary [title defense] beforehand,” revealed Collazo. “We get it. But he has something I want, so that’s why we’re fighting this eliminator. I have a good feeling we’re gonna see each other.

“Honestly, I believe we’re gonna see each other before the end of the year.”

Collazo-Saludar serves in supporting capacity to the Ryan Garcia-Javier Fortuna DAZN main event.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox