Oscar Collazo will hit the ground running for the new year.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the unbeaten WBO strawweight titlist is set to defend his title on the January 27 Jaime Munguia-John Ryder undercard at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Multiple reports from Puerto Rico—Collazo’s home island—have indicated that Nicaragua’s Reyneris Gutierrez will be the opponent.
“I am a living example that through dreams you achieve success,” noted Collazo in confirming his placement on the show. “January 27, we prove again that I am among the best.”
The fight will be the fourth in exactly 52 weeks for Collazo (8-0, 6KOs), who will attempt his second title defense. The 26-year-old southpaw from Villalba, P.R. won the belt from the Philippines’ Melvin Jerusalem, whom Collazo stopped after seven rounds in their May 27 title fight in Indio, California. Jerusalem had just won the title at the start of the year in a second-round knockout of Masataki Taniguchi on the road in Osaka, Japan.
Collazo was afforded a homecoming headliner for his first title defense. He earned a sixth-round stoppage of Garen Diagan atop an August 26 DAZN show from San Juan, P.R.
The rapid rise to the top by Collazo is part of a massive changing of the guard in the strawweight division. Four new titleholders were crowned in the division in 2023 alone. Along with Collazo and Jerusalem, the Shigeoka brothers—Ginjiro and Yudai—both earned strawweight belts in separate wins on the same October 7 show in Tokyo.
Collazo’s win over Jerusalem marked the quickest path to a major title by any fighter ever from Puerto Rico. He claimed the WBO strawweight title in just his seventh pro bout. It far surpassed the mark previously set by Alex ‘Nene’ Sanchez who won the same belt in December 2022 in just his 12th fight.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox