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Any thoughts on this? Does anyone think this is going to be a serious problem for Shane? Much younger, faster opponent who fights southpaw.
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HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Kermit Cintron's loss is Luis Collazo's gain.
Cintron
Collazo, the slick southpaw and former welterweight titlist whom Shane Mosley preferred not to fight, is going to get his chance anyway.
The reason: Cintron, at odds over his purse with his promoter, Bobby Bostick, backed out of the fight shortly after it was announced -- but not actually signed -- last week, much to the surprise of Golden Boy Promotions and HBO.
That left Golden Boy to quickly close a deal with Collazo promoter Don King, which they did Thursday. Now, Collazo will face Mosley on Feb. 10 (HBO) at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and because welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is moving up to junior middleweight to fight Oscar De La Hoya on May 5, Mosley and Cintron will fight for an interim belt.
Although the televised co-feature hasn't been formally announced, former junior welterweight titlist Vivian Harris will face Juan Lazcano in a title eliminator, Harris promoter Gary Shaw told ESPN.com. The winner of Harris-Lazcano will earn a mandatory shot against titlist Junior Witter of England.
Mosley
Collazo
Although Collazo, who is 25 and 10 years younger than Mosley, lost his version of the welterweight title last May to Ricky Hatton on a controversial decision, the New Yorker received some vindication in the wake of the loss when, in what appeared like an admission that the fight was much tougher than he expected, Hatton vacated the belt and retreated to junior welterweight.
"I call Luis Collazo the uncrowned champion because everyone who saw him fight the sensational Ricky Hatton last year knows he successfully defended his welterweight title," King said. "Luis took everything Hatton threw at him and still had 'The Hitman' out on his feet in the final round. I give a lot of credit to Shane Mosley for taking this fight. Luis is young, can box and has a lot of heart. Shane has never backed down from a challenge and he'll get one from Luis Collazo."
Collazo (27-2, 13 KOs) is pumped about facing Mosley, a former three-division champion and someone Collazo has long admired.
"Shane is pound-for-pound one of the best," said Collazo, who is here to support his buddy Travis Simms, who challenges junior middleweight titlist Jose Antonio Rivera on Saturday night's Samuel Peter-James Toney II undercard at the Seminole Hard Rock resort.
"This is a big fight for me, a big opportunity," Collazo said. "I made my mark in the Ricky Hatton fight, but this is the one that will really put me out there. I believe Shane has had his time and it's time for a passing of the torch."
Said Nirmal Lorick, Collazo's trainer and manager: "I love Shane and we have a lot of respect for him and his father [trainer Jack Mosley], but we look at this as our big opportunity, and we're going to take advantage of it. Right after the Hatton fight, we should have been back in a big fight. I think this fight is bigger than the Hatton fight because Shane is a bigger star than Hatton. When Luis beats Shane, he'll get even more credit than he did against Hatton."
Mosley preferred to fight Cintron because he's right-handed and not particularly fast. Collazo is the opposite -- a tricky left-hander with excellent speed.
Still, Mosley (43-4, 37 KOs), returning to welterweight after two knockouts of former two-time junior middleweight champ Fernando Vargas in 2006, said he's anxious for the challenge Collazo presents.
"Luis Collazo is a rising star in this game, and I'm looking forward to matching skills with him," Mosley said. "I'm coming to fight and to put on a great show for the fans, and from what I've seen of Collazo, he feels the same way. I'm ready to go to war."
Cintron fell out shortly after Bostick made a deal with Golden Boy for the Mosley fight. However, he did so without ever closing his end with Cintron.
According to those familiar with the negotiations, Golden Boy had agreed to pay Bostick $750,000 to deliver Cintron's services. The problem arose, however, when, according to those involved, Bostick only offered Cintron a purse of $250,000 plus the promise to pay him an additional $100,000 that he already owed Cintron.
Unhappy with his promoter taking such a large cut, Cintron elected not to defend his belt.
Bostick could not be reached for comment.
Collazo wound up as the beneficiary of their problems.
"Mosley and his team originally didn't want the fight with me because I'm a southpaw and young, and they went to Cintron," said Collazo, who bounced back from the Hatton loss to score a sixth-round knockout of Artur Atadzhanov in November. "Then, Cintron had problems and they came back to me. I had a feeling it would happen, so I went to training camp when they first came with the proposal. So I have been getting ready for 3½ weeks already. I had a feeling it would happen because I knew Cintron was having promotional problems."
Although there was embarrassment at first when the Cintron fight was announced only to fall apart days later, HBO said it is happy with the outcome.
"We had said all along to Golden Boy that we would approve Collazo or Cintron, and we were equally happy with each fight," HBO's Kery Davis said. "Collazo put on a terrific performance against Ricky Hatton on our network and deserved another opportunity to showcase his skills."
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
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