August 28, 2025 | 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines – If Jason Wesson defeats WBA/WBO minimumweight champion Oscar Collazo of Puerto Rico in a 12-round bout on September 20 at Fantasy Springs Casino Resort in Indio, California, the Philippines will have a sweep of all four 105-pound titles. Melvin Jerusalem holds the WBC belt, and Pedro Taduran holds the IBF belt.
Wesson, 27, departed for the United States last night, and his manager, Brico Santig, will accompany him next week. MP Promotions owner Sean Gibbons’ son, Brendan, arranged Wesson’s title fight with Golden Boy Promotions.
“It’s a 50/50 fight,” said Santig. “If Jason trains in Bajio for three months for an IBF title eliminator, that’s fine, because his timing is certainly right. By the time Jason gets his turn, he’ll already be half-professional, half-amateur. He’s got a lot of quality, and he’s bound to have success down the line.” Santig said that Collazo’s reputation as a Filipino “torturer” is well known, but Wesson isn’t impressed. Collazo’s Filipino victims include Galen Diagan, Jerusalem, and Vic Saluda. “If he beats Galen, Jason will help him beat him, and then beat Collazo,” said Santig, who also mentioned Jair Laquenell and John Michael Zulueta as Wesson’s main fighters. The 28-year-old Collazo turned professional in 2020 and has a record of 12 wins and 0 losses, including 9 knockouts. The southpaw boxer won the WBO title in 2023 with a seventh-round submission of Jerusalem and captured the WBA title last November with a seventh-round knockout of Thailand’s CP Freshmart in Saudi Arabia. Collazo defended both titles with a fifth-round submission of Edwin Cano in Mexico last March. Wesson, ranked number seven by the WBO, made his professional boxing debut in 2016 and boasts a record of 14 wins, 1 loss, and 1 draw, including eight knockouts. The frequent flyer from Agusan del Sur has fought his last seven fights abroad. Wesson shot up the world rankings after defeating former WBO lightweight champion Takashi Yamanaka in the second round of their 2023 bout in Kobe, Japan. He has knocked out his opponents in his last two fights in Thailand.
