Luis Collazo dedicates fight to LI girl
Boxer Luis Collazo attends GQ Barber Shop Grand Opening with Fellow Barber at Barclays Center. (Jan. 10, 2014) Credit: Getty Images
Luis Collazo will be fighting for many things when he takes on Victor Ortiz on Jan. 30 at Barclays Center.
In addition to setting himself up for big money bout in the near future, the former WBA welterweight champion from Brooklyn will be fighting to impress Brookville 15-year-old Allie Genatt.
Genatt suffers from Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a disease that damages kidney function. Late actor Gary Coleman and former NBA all-star Alonzo Mourning were both afflicted with the disease, which often requires dialysis or a transplant.
Genatt received a kidney transplant from her mother in 2010, but still fights off relapses because the disease sometimes attacks the new kidney
Collazo (34-5-3) will dedicate his bout against Ortiz (29-4-2) to Genatt and the NephCure Foundation, a non-profit that funds the fight against FSGS. Collazo will where www.NephCure.com on his robe and trunks for the main event, which will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 and Fox Deportes.
Genatt will be ringside on fight night as well as the pre-fight press conference.
“As a former, and future, world champion, I’ve reached many of my goals in boxing. Now I want to use the platform of this fight to call attention to Allie’s battle with FSGS and to The NephCure Foundation, which funds research into finding a cure,” Collazo said. “NephCure needs to find patient families dealing with these kidney conditions in the Hispanic communities of New York City and I can help them do that.”
Genatt met Collazo through her trainers Scooter Honig and Eddie O’Boyle at Competitive Edge Athletics in Port Washington when she was preparing for kidney transplant surgery in 2010.
Genatt speaks at meetings of Nephrologists and organizes fundraising walks for NephCure while attending Jericho High School.
“It is so exciting for me and NephCure to be part of Luis Collazo’s team for this major event right here in Brooklyn,” said Allie Genatt, who hosted Collazo and his trainers at NephCure’s Annual Countdown to a Cure event in New York City in November. “Our message is that NephCure (www.NephCure.org) is a great resource for people suffering from FSGS and Nephrotic Syndrome. We have a dynamic community and we want to find and help other families.”
