By REYNALD MAGALLON
A gallant Jayson Vayson failed to take the unified WBO and WBA minimumweight belts of Puerto Rican champion Oscar Collazo after his corner strangely stopped what appeared to be a close fight in the seventh round of their bout at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California on Sunday, Sept. 21.
The referee stopped the fight at the 1:47 mark of the seventh round after the Filipinos corner decided to throw in the towel – a decision that drew questions since Vayson was actually holding his own and did not seem hurt at all against the unified champion.
Vayson was visibly surprised and frustrated over his corners decision, especially after recovering well from a first round knockdown and even appearing to have landed the cleaner punches in the middle frames.
His corner, however, seemed to have seen enough of the punishment with Collazo beginning to take over in the seventh round, catching Vayson on the ropes and landing big hits.
“It was a good decision (from Vayson’s corner, to stop the fight). My hands were starting to land well in that round. I felt his power several times, he hit me with a body shot. But I knew I was going to beat him,” said Collazo.
With the win, Collazo retained his WBO, WBA and The Ring straps while improving to a perfect 13-0 record. Vayson, who went down to the 105lbs division just to get the title shot, dropped to a 14-2-1 record.
Still, many fans believed that the competitive fight warranted a better ending after Vayson seemed to have put Collazo in his toughest fight yet.
Vayson had his best round in the third when he received a left straight from Collazo but retaliated with a booming body shot that hurt the Puerto Rican.
Vayson followed up with another left as Collazo failed to capitalize on the early momentum from the knockdown he scored.
Collazo, however, was clearly the aggressor, chasing down Vayson, who looked a little winded by the seventh round although still fighting back. A whistling left from Vayson still rocked Collazo but the champion pressed the challenger on the ropes before the call for stoppage.
