Oscar Collazo-Thammanoon Niyomtrong RING Strawweight Championship Set, Nov. 16 in Riyadh

Boxing’s tiniest division is set for its biggest fight ever.

The Ring has confirmed that Oscar Collazo and Thammanoon Niyomtrong have agreed to terms for a strawweight unification bout. The pair of unbeaten titlists will meet on Nov. 16 as part of the Riyadh Season ‘Latino Night’ show in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

For the first time in the division’s history, The Ring championship will be at stake. Puerto Rico’s Collazo (10-0, 7 KOs) is the No. 1-rated strawweight, while Thailand’s Niyomtrong (25-0, 9 KOs)—known to the cool kids as Knockout CP Freshmart—is No. 2 at 105. The Ring belt was not in circulation when Mexico’s Ricardo Lopez last held divisional championship lineage during the 1990s.

From an alphabet sense, Collazo, 27, will risk his WBO belt for the fourth time.  Niyomtrong, 33, puts his WBA crown at stake for the thirteenth time as the sport’s longest reigning titlist.

Multiple sources informed The Ring that both sides worked feverishly in the past couple of weeks to reach a deal. It came after Collazo was already announced to defend his title versus Mexico’s Edwin ‘Canito’ Hernandez (13-2-1, 4 KOs).

However, Golden Boy was adamant about having at least one Ring championship at stake for its first full-fledged Riyadh Season card. It was at that point when representatives for Collazo and Niyomtrong huddled up to talk shop.

The Ring has learned that a conditional part of the matchup is that the winner must next face Hernandez.

Collazo-Niyomtrong marks the division’s first true 1-versus-2 pairing since Lopez’s two fights with Nicaragua’s Rosendo Alvarez. In fact, it will come 26 years almost to the day of their memorable Nov. 1998 rematch, won by Lopez.

The two fought to a technical draw earlier that year. It was the only blemish in Lopez’s Hall of Fame-honored career. He won their second fight via split decision to unify the WBC and WBA titles.

It was the last lineal championship fight at the weight, as Lopez moved up and won a title at junior flyweight one year later.

Collazo was two months shy of his second birthday at the time of Lopez-Alvarez II. Niyomtrong was all of eight years old.

The bout will be the third of the year for Collazo. It’s two fights shy of the five that would have allowed him to collect promoter Oscar De La Hoya’s massive bonus. This is well worth the wait, though.

The Puerto Rican southpaw went all twelve rounds in a June 7 unanimous decision win over Gerardo Zapata. It snapped a four-fight knockout streak, including his May 2023 seventh-round stoppage of Melvin Jerusalem to win the title.

Jerusalem (22-3, 12 KOs), No 4 at 105 by The Ring, rebounded to claim the WBC title earlier this year.

Niyomtrong ended a layoff of more than two years with his most recent title defense.

His eight-year reign was extended after a twelve-round win over then-unbeaten Alex Winwood (4-1, 2 KOs) in Mount Claremont, Australia.

Niyomtrong upgraded to WBA ‘Super’ strawweight beltholder with a win over Byron Rojas in their June 2016 title consolidation bout. Among his twelve successful defenses, Niyomytrong outpointed Rojas in their Nov. 2018 rematch.

The bout versus Collazo will mark his second straight on the road after spending the majority of his career at home in Thailand. Collazo fights outside of The Americas for the first time in his four-year career.

With this fight, there will be a combined four RING championships at stake for the final three Riyadh Season shows of the year.

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