PINOY prospect Garen Diagan got the biggest break of his promising boxing career as he earned a title shot against World Boxing Organization (WBO) minimumweight champion Oscar Collazo.
Collazo will be having his first world title defense against Diagan on Aug. 26, 2023, at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Collazo chose Diagan as his opponent for a voluntary title defense.
The 26-year-old Collazo won the WBO minimumweight strap last May 27 after dethroning Melvin Jerusalem by a seventh-round stoppage in Indio, California.
Diagan is coming in as a huge underdog against the talented Collazo.
Following back-to-back losses against April Jay Abne and Danai Ngiabphukhiaw in 2022, the 26-year-old Diagan bounced back with two straight wins. He scored a rare win on South African soil with a seventh-round technical knockout of veteran Simpiwe Konkco and followed it up with a split-decision win over Huu Toan Le in Vietnam.
Diagan is ranked No. 9 by the WBO. He is also highly rated in the other three major world boxing sanctioning bodies - No. 3 by the World Boxing Council (WBC), No. 5 by the World Boxing Association (WBA), and also No. 5 by the International Boxing Federation (IBF).
Diagan is 10-3 with five knockouts, while Collazo is 7-0 with five knockouts.