Isaac Dogboe predicts KO win; eyes unification fight

After impressing Bob Arum in his last outing in America, Isaac Dogboe wants to make another statement on this weekend’s Top Rank card.

On Saturday night, the 23-year-old makes his first defence of the WBO Super-Bantamweight crown he won from Jessie Magdaleno live on BoxNation.

Dogboe was the underdog but ripped up the script back in April. Next he takes on Hidenori Otake – a veteran Japanese warrior whose last title challenge came back in 2014 against England’s Scott Quigg.

“What we want to do is shake up the division and make this division great again. Mike Tyson said back in his days they were killers but nowadays they are businessmen. We are not looking to go down that road,” Dogboe told Fightnews. “I know he is physically strong, he’s got a great record and he’s a come forward fighter and I’m also a come forward fighter. August 25th is going to be a great night because we are both coming forward and one of us will be taking a step back…and it will be Otake who does that.”

Nicknamed ‘Royal Storm’ due to his Ghanaian heritage, Dogboe destroyed Magdaleno, recovering from a first-round knockdown to put the Champion down three times en route to an 11th-round knockout.

After Otake, he wants to face the other World Champions: “We are looking to unify the division, and right now Otake is the one guy standing in the way. We have to take him out and then look forward to [Daniel] Roman, [Rey] Vargas…these guys. I’m looking forward to taking on any of them any day. They just need to sign the contract and step up to the plate.”

Vargas is currently the longest reigning titlist with three defences of the WBC belt, while Roman has defended his WBA strap twice. Last week Ireland’s TJ Doheny upset Ryosuke Iwasa to become IBF Champion.

“It’s all about the best fighting the best. That’s what causes boxing to be great. When you think about Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran; these people, they lit up boxing,” continued Dogboe. “All these great names, we want to go down as one of the great fighters to come out of boxing.”

“It’s going to be a knockout victory for Isaac Dogboe. Win number 20. Knockout number 14,” he confidently predicted.