Decisions benefit Collazo
WORCESTER -- Luis Collazo may have his handlers to thank for a razor-thin split-decision victory that earned him the World Boxing Association welterweight title at the DCU Center Saturday night.
The day before the fight against Worcester resident and WBA titleholder Jose Rivera, Collazo's handlers threatened to pull him from the match if one of two Massachusetts judges assigned to score it were not removed by the state athletic commission. The commission had assigned Worcester native Paul Barry and State Police captain Leo Gerstel to judge the fight along with New Mexico's Levi Martinez. But Rivera's trainer, Byron Oglesby, insisted one of the Massachusetts judges be changed or "[Collazo] won't step into the ring." He targeted Gerstel because Rivera's day job is as an officer of the juvenile court and brings him in regular contact with law enforcement officials.
Commission chairman Nick Manzello swapped Gerstel with Puerto Rico's Nelson Vasquez, who was set to officiate an International Boxing Federation junior middleweight elimination fight for the No. 1 ranking between Roman Karmazin and former middleweight champion Keith Holmes.
That trade may have cost Rivera his title.
After 12 rounds of toe-to-toe action in which the slick Collazo more than held his own against Rivera, Barry was the only judge to see Rivera the winner, giving him a 115-113 nod. Vasquez and Martinez had Collazo winning by the same thin margin. The Globe scored the fight a 114-114 draw.
What made the decision even more a matter of dispute was that Barry and Martinez gave the final round to Rivera, but the late addition, Vasquez, scored it 10-9 for Collazo. Had Vasquez's card agreed with the other two, his tally would have been 114-114 and the bout would have been declared a draw, and under WBA rules, Rivera would have retained his title.
Rivera was left with a badly swollen eye that required him to go to the hospital and a bitter taste about the outcome of his first title defense.
"He ran for 12 rounds," Rivera insisted. "I pushed the whole fight. I was the aggressor and he got a split decision?"
Rivera's manager, Steve Tankanow, and Boston attorney Tony Cardinale said they would petition the WBA for an immediate rematch.
However, Collazo and his handlers seemed far more interested in the possibility of challenging someone who can bring them a big payday, like Oscar De La Hoya or Shane Mosley, who both have returned, beltless, to the welterweight division after mixed success at 154 and 160 pounds. Or Collazo's people could opt to set up a fight with universally recognized welterweight "super" champion Zab Judah, who last month defeated Cory Spinks in a unification fight.
Promoter Don King, who controls Judah, Rivera, and Collazo, said he would do what he could for Rivera. Ever the pragmatist, King had no dispute with the outcome of what was clearly the best fight of the night, one that had most of the 8,567 on their feet in the final rounds. But he seemed possessed by a business sense of how the situation might best be handled.
"You have to be with the winner to help the loser," King cackled, asserting his promotional ties with both fighters was not a conflict of interest but a source of conflict resolution. "I learned a long time ago that it's better to be on the coattails of a politician going into office than clutched to the breast of one going out of office."
Whether King's long relationship with the WBA and its officials will land Rivera a rematch, the promoter is legendary for resuscitating the flagging careers of former champions, and after Saturday night he has several more.
Rivera is one, and another is former World Boxing Council cruiserweight champ Wayne Braithwaite, who was derailed in a unification showdown with WBA titleholder Jean-Marc Mormeck in the main event at the DCU Center.
Mormeck, at 198 pounds, was too strong for the 188-pound Braithwaite, who took a beating but stood tall to the end.
The previously undefeated Braithwaite (22-1) admitted he was stunned by Mormeck's strength and was unable to combat it.
"I was surprised by that," Braithwaite said. "My plan was to not stay on the ropes."
By the seventh round, the WBC champion was in deep trouble as Mormeck sent him to the floor with a slashing right behind a stinging body shot.
Mormeck (31-2) became the first unified cruiserweight champion since Evander Holyfield in 1988, as well as the first French fighter to hold multiple titles simultaneously.
As Mormeck and Collazo sat with their belts, all Rivera and Braithwaite could do was glumly hope for a resurrection directed by the king of fistic revivals, King. 