Luis Collazo: 'I got to a point I even thought about committing suicide'

Amir Khan's opponent in Las Vegas on Saturday has overcome alcohol addiction but is now a genuine contender

The man who stands between Amir Khan and redemption in Las Vegas on Saturday night, with his right foot forward and his heavy left hand cocked, is the lightly regarded but dangerous Luis Collazo. The veteran Brooklyn southpaw is not to be messed with because adversity is his life's travelling companion.

In a candid discussion under the radar of the Floyd Mayweather-Marcos Maidana hoopla that has occupied the cognescenti in Las Vegas this week Collazo revealed he has struggled with alcohol addiction and was driven to the point of contemplating taking his own life a year ago during an enforced absence from the sport he has done since he was 10 years old.

He also spoke about his resolution to give Khan the sort of hell he delivered on Ricky Hatton, who had to dig seriously deep when they fought in Boston eight years ago on the Mancunian's debut at welterweight. Like Hatton before him this is Khan's first proper bout at 10st 7lb and, as with all his fights, much hangs on it. Win and he stays near the head of the queue for a fight with Mayweather, which would happen no sooner than next May; lose and he will surely have to wonder about his future in the business.

For Collazo, six years older than Khan at 33, defeat also would be pivotal. But he sounds less stressed by the prospect. He has endured bigger examinations of his resolve.

"Amir Khan is a great fighter," the gentlemanly Collazo says. "He has a tremendous background. He is moving up in weight, so we will have to see how that plays for him and he has been off over a year [when he outpointed Julio Díaz in Sheffield at catchweight]. I will go out there and give the fans what they want, a bit of excitement."

Although Collazo is not one of the sport's marquee names, he has been a career welterweight, so he is mature and strong at the weight and he held a version of the world title seven years ago. Nothing in the ring, however, matches his struggle away from it.

"Back in Brooklyn I'm doing something with teenagers getting in trouble, to set up a boxing programme to show them some type of discipline and to let them know that it's not over yet," he says. "Just because you are going through some issues, you can still change your life if you really want to.

"It is going to make us who we are going to be tomorrow, not who we are today. I got to a point in my life, I even thought about committing suicide, I was in a dark place, I turned to alcohol, I turned away from my family and friends.

"One night I just asked God give me a sign: 'If you can change my life over, I will give my life to you.' The next day I woke up a totally different person. The hole I had in my heart was filled. Even my wife could not give me that happiness.

"It has been a year and I have been so blessed. We go through trials and tribulations we think we can't handle. Now I have a relationship with God."

He also had reason to be grateful to the surgeon who fixed a career-threatening shoulder injury that kept him out of the ring for two years. And it was then that the bottle banged him on the head.

"I started drinking when I was inactive. It just grew. I wasn't happy, I was coming off a victory over Steve Chambers but there was something missing. Thank God I'm still here. I wasn't a big drinker at the time but it was something I just turned to. Now I realise it would just bring me back to the same thing when I was sober again.

"When I was younger I used to have guns in my house. In the last four years I moved and didn't take them with me for some reason. I believe if I would have had them with me that night I would have done something. When you are drinking you think you are going to be in a different place. I believe God had a plan for me and I am just following his footsteps.

"People only see you when you are in the light, then you have to go home and face a regular lifestyle. I don't like being in the spotlight, I like being around my family. I noticed when I was pulling away from them there was something wrong. For me to pull away from my daughters – they are my passion. And my wife was even scared to come home because she didn't know the type of person she was going to come back to. And when she told me that, I just broke down crying. She didn't want to see me like that."

These stories are a familiar refrain in boxing but they are no less moving for their familiarity. As for the comparisons between Khan and Hatton, Collazo says: "Khan is more of a boxer, Ricky was an aggressive brawler. But this is my weight, it is the weight I have been all my career. It might play a factor, it might not."

Khan's trainer, Virgil Hunter, observed: "Ricky Hatton was very surprised by how strong Collazo was and I'm not shocked at all he said that. He is, though, easy to prepare for because you know exactly what he is going to do.

"We know Amir has got to figure out how strong he is but other than that we know he is a straight-at-you, what-you-see-is-what-you-get fighter. But he isn't a pressure fighter who throws hundreds of punches per round.

"Amir has a metabolism where he doesn't gain 20lbs between fights and he is very fortunate to have that kind of body. He is always within a 10lb range of his fighting weight so that's good for him. In the last fight he struggled to make the weight and so the move up was a natural one.

"These are the fights he really needs. We will see Amir at his best on Saturday because he needs to be challenged. He is at the elite level of the sport and they are all dangerous fights. This will bump him up when he beats Collazo and he will be ready for anybody. I would rather he fought tough fights because it brings out his 'A' game. He doesn't need average opponents at this level and at this time of his career."