Potent pair

LOS ANGELES — If Oscar Collazo keeps his word, the undefeated Puerto Rican banger could find himself slamming into an asteroid.

Amid the revelry following his controversial seventh-round stoppage of Filipino challenger Jayson Vayson in Indio last Saturday, Collazo raised the idea of unifying all the belts in the minimumweight class.

Aside from the World Boxing Organization and World Boxing Association belts, Collazo also holds The Ring magazine strap.

Only two titles remain in the wild — Melvin Jerusalem’s World Boxing Council (WBC) and Pedro Taduran’s International Boxing Federation crowns.

“I want to become the first Puerto Rican undisputed champion,” Collazo said following his victory that was tainted by the surprising ending to the action-packed scheduled 12-rounder at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino.

Vayson’s corner threw in the towel even if he wasn’t getting beat up and was actually firing back.

Bryan Perez of Miguel Cotto Promotions, Collazo’s local promoter, confirmed the 28-year-old southpaw’s burning desire to take on Jerusalem or Taduran next.

“Yes, that’s what we are trying to do next. A unification,” he said.

Told about Collazo’s intent to snatch his WBC belt, Jerusalem almost jumped for joy.

“Let’s go,” Jerusalem said from his training base in Cebu City in the Philippines where he is preparing for a 29 October defense against Siyakholwa Kuse of South Africa during the 50th anniversary celebration of the Thrilla in Manila.

While there is no official word yet as to who between Jerusalem and Taduran would get to battle Collazo, the two Filipino champions expressed their eagerness to rise to the challenge.

IBF ruler Taduran, like Jerusalem, is getting ready to defend the championship against fellow Filipino Christian Balunan on 26 October at the San Andres Coliseum in Manila.

“I just hope that happens because he’s been issuing challenges for a very long time,” Taduran said.

Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy Promotions, owned by the great Oscar De La Hoya, is also determined to make a fight happen with either Jerusalem or Taduran “sometime in the first quarter” of 2026.

Although Collazo had beaten Jerusalem in May 2023, a lot of things have changed since then.

Jerusalem has drastically improved since the first Collazo fight when he arrived in the United States nine days before the bout, leaving him still jet-lagged on fight night.

“That’s not gonna happen anymore because Jerusalem has a long-stay (US) visa unlike before,” said his promoter JC Mananquil.

Not only that.

Jerusalem has strung up three straight impressive wins since then.

As for Taduran, Collazo will be in for a rough night, too with the IBF titleholder given his volume punching and incredible stamina.

Still, nothing is set in stone just yet.

But one thing is certain.

Collazo will have to come up with a much better showing against Jerusalem or Taduran since his performance against Vayson seemed not good enough to get past either one of the two.