Unbeaten WBO Minimumweight World Champion Oscar Collazo defeated Gerardo Zapata in dominant fashion, winning nearly every round on the judges' three scorecards (119-109, 119-109, 117-110) in a one-sided main event by unanimous decision over 12 rounds.
Collazo dominated the first and half of the second round, until suddenly, with about a minute left in the round, Zapata landed a powerful looping overhand right hook that staggered Collazo. Collazo was in big trouble, but Collazo stayed out of Zapata's punching range and pinned Collazo down multiple times until the end of the round, preventing Zapata from finishing him off. This was Zapata's best round of the fight and the only round in which he landed double-digit punches (12) in the bout.
At the start of the third round, Collazo showed no signs of being shaken and quickly took control of the round and went on the offensive. Collazo aggressively chased Zapata around the ring, forcing him to back off throughout the bout. Collazo overwhelmed Zapata with sharp jabs, uppercuts and multiple punch combinations to the head and body from both hands, giving Zapata no chance to fight back.
Zapata remained on the defensive for most of the bout, throwing few punches, and appeared to tire, especially in the second half of the bout, spending significant portions of the round on the ropes. Zapata became more aggressive in the 12th round as Collazo rested for long portions of the round.
Collazo continued to land power punches: a left uppercut that stunned Zapata in the third round, a left-right hook that staggered Zapata in the fifth round, and a right jab that sent Zapata against the ropes in the sixth round.
Collazo landed numerous punches late in the eighth and ninth rounds as Zapata held on to the ropes. Collazo attempted to end the bout in the final three rounds, landing numerous barrages of punches. However, Zapata did not go down and continued to fight to the end despite taking a fair amount of blows. At the end of the bout, his face was bruised and red.
According to CompuBox punch statistics, Collazo out-punched Zapata in every statistic: Collazo threw more punches (741 to 453), landed nearly four times as many punches (230 to 63), landed a higher landing percentage (31 to 14), landed nearly four times as many jabs (79 to 23), and landed more than three times as many power punches (151 to 40). Collazo landed more punches than Zapata in all 12 rounds.
Collazo improved his record to 10-0 with 7 knockouts and successfully defended his title for the third time. Fans cheered loudly and waved the flag of his native Puerto Rico in celebration. In May 2023, Collazo won the WBO belt by defeating Melvin Jerusalem by 7th round technical knockout in his 7th professional fight. Collazo successfully defended the belt against Galen Diagn and Reinerys Gutierrez by 6th and 3rd round technical knockouts, respectively. This was the first time in his 5 fights that he had failed to knock out an opponent.
Zapata, ranked 12th by the WBO, finished with 14 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw, with 5 knockouts. This was his first world title.
Golden Boy Promotions promoted the bout during International Boxing Hall of Fame weekend at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. The bout was broadcast live on DAZN.
Collazo told reporters after the fight that he hopes to be back in the ring by September or October and continue his active career (he fought three times last year and two in the first half of this year) with a shot at unification in early 2025.
