Collard scores electrifying boxing upset on national television

Readers of this blog may have noticed that we have been charting UFC MMA fighter-turned professional boxer, Clay Collard's career. In the past several months, the Northern Utah boxer has fought 10 times, in his opponent's hometown or his promotional banner. Remarkably, the journeyman Collard has won five of those bouts, scored draws in three, and lost twice.

Last night he fought one of the top 160-pound prospects in the world, Raymond Guajardo, (5-0) of El Paso, Texas. Collard (6-2-3) was brought in, like many journeymen boxers, with the expectation that he would pad the prospect's record, or in other words, lose. I had noted in past blogs that one reason Collard was scoring upsets over undefeated boxers is the level of competition he is facing. In his last 10 fights, Collard has met opponents with a combined record of 59 wins and two losses. Prior to last night's bout, Guajardo had met opponents with a combined record of 4-6.

The photo above is a TV grab from last night's bout on Fox Sports 1. Collard is standing over Guajardo. You can watch the fight here.

Over the course of 4 minutes and 42 seconds, Collard floored Guajardo twice and severely battered the young prospect around the ring before it was stopped. The game Guajardo managed to floor Collard once during the wild bout, that is already being touted as an early candidate for fight of the year. Certainly the first round may remain round of the year.

Guajardo might become a great fighter but in Collard he was essentially facing a veteran, a fighter who fought the toughest UFC fighters, including Max Holloway, and had been boxing tough competition on more or less a monthly basis. No one vocally noted this on the PBC fight card. But it was out there had the promotion, and perhaps Guajardo's braintrust, done some due diligence.

So congrats on a great win for Collard. In an interesting twist, this may be it for him for a long while regarding boxing. He has an opportunity to compete in the Professional Fighters League annual MMA tournament. The winners earn $1 million. However, he's now a hotter boxing commodity after the drama of last night's bout. Major promoter Lou DiBella wants him on an upcoming Utah boxing card, and I'm sure other large promotions have tucked Collard into their proverbial "Rolodex."