Collazo on Cotto fight: I'd send him back to 140lbs, just like I did Hatton

Boxingtalk.com recently caught up with former WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo to see what’s next on the agenda for Brooklyn based southpaw. Collazo 27-2(13) spoke with Boxingtalk earlier this week about his recent off-TV bout in Arizona; his thoughts on this past weekend’s Cotto-Quintana match up which took place for the title he lost to Ricky Hatton this past May via controversial decision.

RC: What’s going Lou?
LC: Nothing much man, just upset over here watching these boring **explicit** dudes at us 147lbs.

RC: Well Miguel Cotto and Carlos Quintana just fought this past weekend for your former title you lost via controversial decision to Ricky Hatton. Give us your thoughts on that fight?
LC: Oh man, Quintana just showed no heart and Cotto went in there and does what he does. He tries to bully his opponents. He did what he had to do to win, but the fight went the way it did because Quintana didn’t show any heart.

RC: Does it bother you at all, that your name isn’t even mentioned in the Cotto mix?
LC: Oh definitely, I don’t understand how the WBA let (Oktay) Urkal take step aside money two times and I am suppose to be ranked at the top of the rankings. There is a lot of politics man but at the end of the day I just have to go in there and do what I have to do to get my respect

RC: Other than flyers that have been seen all around pushing for a possible all Puerto Rican match up on June 9th at MSG. Which is the day before the very popular annual PR day parade in NYC.  Has the talks gone any further than that?
LC: Well right now we are trying to push hard but the WBA is making Urkal the number one mandatory so we are just going to have to just wait. Cotto is probably going to just demolish him; Urkal has just been making money by not fighting. I don’t know exactly how that happens, but that is what he has been doing for the last year. If Cotto feel he is one of the best, he needs to step up to the plate. Like I told everybody before Ricky Hatton, he thought he was one of the best and I went in there and showed the world that he is overrated.

RC: Cotto’s promoter recently mentioned that Miguel Cotto will likely fight four times this year, more than likely Urkal sometime in early March 2007. Then there is the June 9th date at MSG with Margarito being the front-runner for that match. What do you the chances are a fight between you and Cotto coming to fruition?
LC: Anything is possible. It really depends on Cotto. They need just start punching for a Cotto and Collazo fight. I know that this is what a lot of fans want, and I know the only way we can make it happen is with the press putting it out there. I have people all the time coming up to me in the street asking me about that fight.

RC: How would a fight between you and Miguel Cotto play out?
LC: ooh man, it will be an exciting fight and I guarantee you I will make him got back down to 140lbs. And you know what? That’s a future match up that they will probably make. I guarantee you that he will make that fight with Ricky Hatton.
 
RC: After loosing such a close, hard fought fight against Hatton in a match that most felt you deserved to retain your title, did you expect to basically be ignored and your name not even mentioned by the Welterweight contenders out there?
LC: I don’t know, my whole career I have never gotten what I deserve and till this day I still don’t. Everyone is talking about Margarito and people are scared of Margarito, we tried to get a fight with Margarito, they didn’t take the fight. I was ready to take anything (Short money) for that fight. I don’t get the respect that I deserve but I just gotta keep working hard and try to take it to the next level.

RC: After the Hatton fight, you fought off-TV in Phoenix in the early part of November. Why don’t you tell us how that fight went down?
LC: We fought a kid (Artur Atadzhanov) from Ukraine; he was like 10-3 with I think eight knockouts. Southpaw, a tough dude. If it weren’t for the referee he would have just stood there and kept taking punishment. So the referee stopped it in the 6th round. It was just a fight to stay busy and keep my name out there.

RC: Can we expect to see you back on Television in your next bout?
LC: I am suppose to be fighting Walter Matthysse I believe he is from Argentina, for the number one spot in the IBF, either in January or February. I am just trying to stay out there and make it happen. We will probably get a co-main event spot on T.V.. I just have to keep busy and make it happen until one of these so-called champions step up to the plate.

RC: Anything else you’d like to add before I let you go?
LC: Yeah, step up to the plate, you so called champions and lets make this happen. I am still the peoples champ.


Boxingtalk.com would like to thank Team Collazo’s Director of Marketing Ed Rosa for making this interview possible.

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