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Collazo vs. Valdez Final Press Conference
With only days remaining until fight night, undefeated WBA,
WBO, and Ring Magazine Minimumweight World Champion Oscar
“El Pupilo” Collazo (14-0, 11 KOs) of Villalba, Puerto Rico,
and newly announced opponent, rising Mexican contender
Neider Valdez (15-3-3, 12 KOs) of Monterrey, Nuevo León,
hosted a final press conference in Carlsbad ahead of their
12-round world championship showdown. Collazo vs. Valdez
will stream live worldwide on DAZN on Saturday, June 20,
from Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, Calif., and is presented
by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Miguel Cotto
Promotions.
In the co-main event, hard-hitting Chihuahua, Mexico native
Yair “Manotas” Gallardo (11-0, 9 KOs) will look to extend
his knockout streak when he takes on Surrey, Canada’s Buneet
Bisla (14-1, 7 KOs) in a 10-round light heavyweight clash.
Gallardo enters the fight fresh off an impressive stoppage
victory over Elio Heraldo Trosch in Puerto Rico and now
faces the tough Bisla, whose only professional defeat came
more than three years ago.
Also featured on the DAZN broadcast, undefeated Uzbek
Olympian Ruslan Abdullaev (4-0, 2 KOs) will face Las Vegas’
Orestes Velazquez (8-1, 7 KOs) in a 10-round super
lightweight showdown. U.S. Olympian Joshua “The Rocket”
Edwards (6-0, 5 KOs) of Houston, Texas, will return in an
eight-round heavyweight fight against New Orleans’ Garreth
“Da Lion” Payton (7-2, 4 KOs). Opening the DAZN telecast,
Coachella’s fan-favorite Cayden Griffiths (8-0, 7 KOs) will
battle Guadalajara, Mexico’s Alan Crisosto (12-6, 8 KOs) in
an eight-round super welterweight bout.
In preliminary action, Denver’s Daniel “Junebug” Garcia
(13-0, 10 KOs) will put his undefeated record on the line
against Miami’s Christopher Rodriguez (13-2-1, 11 KOs).
Kicking off the night, fellow Denver native Lorenzo Garcia
will make his professional debut against Columbus, Ohio’s
Tylan Smith (1-0-1) in a four-round super lightweight fight.
Here is what the fighters had to say:
OSCAR COLLAZO – WBO, WBA & RING MAGAZINE MINIMUMWEIGHT WORLD
CHAMPION:
Beto: You must’ve been stressed this week?
“Not really because I don’t let that affect me. Golden Boy
did the work. They told me to stay relaxed. I did my job,
made weight, and stayed relaxed. When we’re in camp, we
don’t exactly train for the fighter (opponent). We spar
lefties, we spar righties, we spar aggressive fighters, we
fight people in the back foot. So things like this don’t
bother me. We could do the same strategy with each fighter.
Give me one or two rounds, and I got them.”
*On Potential fight with Ricardo Sandoval*
“We’re in the same promoter. He had a long layoff. Hey,
we’ll see. Mexico and Puerto Rico, it will be one of the
best fights in the world.”
YAIR GALLARDO – LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT PROSPECT:
Beto: What kind of fight are we gonna get?
“We’ve been working a lot in the gym. We know our opponent,
we’ve been watching him. We’ve been working on my distance,
so expect fireworks this Saturday. A lot of pressure is
gonna go on.”
RUSLAN ABDULLAEV – SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT PROSPECT:
Beto: How excited are you for this weekend?
“Super excited. I want to thank Eric, Oscar, and Golden Boy
for having me here. I’m super pleased and excited to be
back.”
Beto: Who do you want to fight?
“I only want to fight for the world title. Whoever has those
titles, Oscar tells me and I’m going for it. It doesn’t
matter. I’m ready to fight anyone.”
JOSHUA EDWARDS – HEAVYWEIGHT PROSPECT:
Beto: As a heavyweight Olympian, you have a bullseye on your
back, don’t you?
“Yeah, big bullseye, but there's no pressure. I know what I
was born to do. I've been doing this since I was six, seven.
So, it's no pressure when they're looking for the next big
thing in the American heavyweight division. It’s just
setting myself up at the right times to make moves and
continue to get better.”
CAYDEN GRIFFITHS – WELTERWEIGHT PROSPECT:
Beto: You want better competition, don’t you?
“The higher the opposition, the more you’re gonna learn.
Easy fights are great and everything, but I feel like I’m
ready to take a step up now. I want to showcase that I can
do more than just can-crush. One step at a time, but we want
to make our way towards the top. Anybody that they want to
put in front of us, we’re willing to take.
Beto: At the end of the day, you want to be known as one the
best fighters. How hard do you work?
“As hard as it gets. I'm a fighter who's on social media -
I'm not a social media fighter. I put a lot of time and
effort into training. The knockouts I get are just a
reflection of that. I promote myself through social media
because it’s a part of the game. If you could promote
yourself on social media, you could make it to the top. As
long as I keep performing and training hard, getting in
there and doing what I do best, knocking people out, I’ll be
there.”
DANIEL GARCIA – LIGHTWEIGHT PROSPECT:
Beto: How do you put on a show Saturday night?
“Everybody likes knockouts, so of course you want to do
that. But just staying sharp, consistently getting better.
You want to learn each fight, but if you see something open
and you can land a big shot, people like knockouts. That’s
just another statement. This dude has a pretty good record,
so I'm excited to get in the ring and learn more, and show
my talents.
Beto: How cool is that for the family? *Brother making
pro-debut on same card*
“I know how hard he's been working. He’s been working with
me in my camps, so I definitely knew when he got the call, I
knew he'd be ready. I want to give a big thank you to Eric,
Oscar, Golden Boy, and everybody involved for giving both of
us this opportunity to perform.”
ERIC GOMEZ – PRESIDENT OF GOLDEN BOY PROMOTIONS:
*On finding a replacement fighter for Collazo*
“Trust me, not too many people are running to fight Oscar
Collazo. He's a bad man, in a good way. It’s always gonna be
hard to get someone to fight a world-class fighter last
minute. It’s not like you can just pick up opponents from a
book and get a list of fighters and call them and they’re
ready to go. It takes a lot. So, we’re lucky, very, very
lucky to be able to do this. I want to thank our partners at
Cotto Promotions, Hector and Brian, thank you. Razo, our
matchmaker, as well, Devin. The last 48 to 72 hours, it was
crazy, but we were able to get a replacement. Oscar’s gonna
fight and that’s the most important thing.
*Gomez on Collazo*
“You don't become one of the best fighters in the world, or
pound for pound, by chance. He’s ready for anything. He’ll
fight anybody, even if he has to go up in weight. Which is
one of the things we've been discussing. Maybe going up in
weight a little bit because there's more opportunities out
there. He really is a great fighter, and it's again not by
chance that he’s pound for pound one of the best.”
*Gomez on Collazo fighting Ricardo Sandoval*
“One of the things we talked about is maybe him moving up
and fighting Ricardo Sandoval at 112. Collazo does want to
unify and get all the belts. I don’t think it will be next,
but we have talked about it. I mean, I get excited just as a
fan, to be able to see that fight. The skill level is so
high for both fighters. It would be a great fight to watch.”
*Gomez on Ruslan*
“We came very, very close, believe it or not, in having him
fight Arnold Barboza at the Honda Center earlier this year.
He wanted to fight, he accepted it, Arnold accepted it.
That's the kind of fighter he is, he wants to fight anybody.
He’s kind of like Lomachenko part two. That's how good he
is. He's got the skills, he's got the credentials, and we're
very excited for Ruslan.”
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