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Andreas Hale
Multiple Authors
Oscar Collazo and Gabriela Fundora retained their titles with dominant stoppage victories Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Also on the card, former interim champion Arnold Barboza Jr. impressed in his welterweight debut, cruising to a unanimous decision over Kenneth Sims Jr.
Unified strawweight champion Collazo (14-0, 11 KOs) retained his WBA and WBO titles with sustained pressure on Jesus Haro’s body to force him to retire on the stool at the end of the sixth round.
Haro offered little resistance as Collazo ramped up the pressure once he realized his opponent couldn’t hurt him. After three rounds, Puerto Rico’s Collazo began digging to the body with power shots, and Haro winced in pain with each thudding blow. Haro (13-4, 2 KOs) resorted to backing off and covering up.
Haro was out of gas after six rounds and stayed in his corner for Round 7, resulting in Collazo’s fourth consecutive stoppage. Collazo landed 128 of 287 punches (44.6%) compared with 38 of 229 (16.6%) for Haro.
Fundora (18-0, 10 KOs) strengthened her grip on the undisputed flyweight championship with a one-sided stoppage of Viviana Ruiz. Fundora, ESPN’s No. 4-ranked women’s pound-for-pound fighter, dissected Ruiz with ease, using her height and reach advantages to earn her fourth straight stoppage win.
Ruiz, 43, couldn’t muster much offense against the women’s flyweight queen. Fundora, 23, used her jab and movement to keep Ruiz (10-3, 5 KOs) on the outside and without a window to punch through. Still, she attempted to pressure Fundora and paid for it by getting hit with combinations. Fundora knocked her down with a left hand in the fifth round and set the stage for the conclusion.
In Round 7, Fundora teed off on the challenger, and referee Ray Corona stopped the fight.
Fundora is teasing a move down to 108 pounds, which is a frightening proposition for her potential opponents. But first, she wanted to make sure fans were pleased with her dominance and finishing prowess.
“I just want the fans to go home every time saying, ‘Damn, she got another knockout,'” Fundora said.
Barboza (32-1, 11 KOs) got back into the win column against Sims after suffering his first loss as a professional against Teofimo Lopez in May.
Barboza was a step ahead of Sims in just about every way, taking little damage, other than a cut from a clash of heads. Barboza appears to be a formidable player in the 147-pound weight class.
He took control of the fight early and was never forced out of the comfort of dissecting Sims throughout the 12-round bout. Not known for his finishing prowess, Barboza picked his spots and controlled the distance. He never let Sims put together a sustained attack and was either putting together combinations or sliding out of range.
The judges scored the fight 117-111, 118-110 and 120-108 for the fighter out of Long Beach, California.