The “Royal Storm” of Ghana swept through the Arizona desert leaving nothing in its path. Making the first defense of his WBO world junior featherweight title, Isaac Dogboe obliterated Japan’s Hidenori Otake, dropping him twice in the first before referee Chris Flores mercifully stepped in at 2-18.
Dogboe, 23, 20-0 14 (KOs), is making a strong case for Fighter of the Year consideration. In April, he stopped undefeated world champion Jessie Magdaleno in eleven rounds. The buzz has been building since–and could be felt at Glendale’s Gila River Arena, where the Ghanaian enjoyed strong crowd support.
Dogboe’s one round destruction of Otake. pic.twitter.com/soghmAdLWA
— Daniel Attias (@Dan_Attias) August 26, 2018
Poor Otake, 31-3-3 (14 KOs), was no match. Dogboe’s mean intentions were revealed early in the first, as he stood in the pocket and delivered compact combinations to the head and body. Several of them jarred Otake but Dogboe didn’t get overexcited. Every so often, he’d step back to land a snapping jab before wading back in again.
Midway through the round, Dogboe uncorked a crunching left hook flush on the jaw, crumpling Otake to the canvas. The brave, 37-year-old Japanese slugger rose to his feet, still discombobulated. Dogboe swarmed, maneuvering him toward the ropes, where an overhand right dropped Otake to a knee. Once again, he made it to his feet on unsteady legs. The fight didn’t last much longer. Dogboe pounced, raining down a volley of power-punches until the bout was stopped.
“I want to thank Otake for signing the contract,” the winner said afterward. “You know, all these other so-called champions out there, we phoned them. They failed. They all failed to sign the contract. But the new king is on the block.”
Dogboe also left a specific message for those champions.
“To all these guys in my division, all you world champions out there — come! Let’s put it on, let’s get it on! Rey Vargas, Daniel Roman, wherever you are, come out! Let’s do this.”
Dogboe is likely to fight one more time this year. A win over either of those champions would cap off the triumphant return of Ghana boxing and mark his arrival as one of the world’s very best.
