Ghana’s Isaac Dogboe aka The Royal Storm has called out fellow titleholders Ray Vargas and Danny Roman after his first title defense against Hidenori Otake of Japan.
“Now I want to face all the champs. Let’s do this! I’m ready to unify all the titles,” he said. “I want all the champions out there, Ray Vargas, Danny Roman. Step up to the plate, let’s make this happen. They should come forward and make a great fight. Champions should fight the best.”
Dogboe’s first title defense couldn’t have really gone any better, as he stopped Japanese veteran Hidenori Otake in the first round, retaining the WBO super bantamweight title.
Otake went down twice before the contest was waved off in the first round.
Dogboe (20-0, 14 KOs) blasted down Otake (31-3-3, 14 KO) with a good hook in the second minute of the first. Otake made it up, but another series of shots made his gloves touch the mat for the second knockdown – and another flurry of big shots forced the referee to step in and wave off the fight.
Otake had never been stopped before in his career. His last defeat came in 2014 when he lost a twelve round decision to then WBA champion Scott Quigg.
The Ghanaian has now stopped his last five opponents.
Back in April, Dogboe came on the world scene when he got off the mat to score an eleventh round knockout of previously undefeated Jessie Magdaleno to capture the WBO crown. And prior to that bout, Dogboe had knocked out the dangerous Cesar Juarez in five rounds in a final WBO eliminator in January.
Junior featherweight world titleholder Isaac “Royal Storm” Dogboe had a very tough fight when he won the 122-pound belt in April 2018. He had no such issues in his first defense on Sunday dawn.
Dogboe overpowered Hidenori Otake, knocking him down twice and knocking him out in the first round of spectacular performance in the co-feature of the Raymundo Beltran-Jose Pedraza lightweight world title fight on the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card at the Gila River Arena.
Dogboe blitzed Otake, who had no answers for anything in the utter blowout.
“We knew we were coming in hot and that we were coming with the heat,” Dogboe said. “I tried to take him out as quickly as possible. That was the plan — to take him out.”
Dogboe (20-0, 14 KOs), 23, won the WBO junior featherweight world title on April 28 in Philadelphia when he knocked out Jessie Magdaleno in an enthralling fight of the year candidate. Dogboe survived a first-round knockdown and stormed back to drop Magdaleno in the fifth round and twice more in the 11th round for the victory. This time it was much quicker and way more ferocious.
Dogboe, a 2012 Olympian, who was short at a four-inch disadvantage against the 5-foot-7 Otake, dropped him for the first time with a clean left hand to the head. Otake was flat on his back, and though he beat the count, his legs were unsteady and he looked glassy-eyed.
Dogboe did not relent. He went right after him, and when he nailed him with a right hand, Otake buckled and touched his glove to the canvas for the second knockdown.
When the fight resumed, Dogboe continued to pound him. He connected with several hard punches during a seven-punch flurry, including a brutal right uppercut that rocked him badly and forced referee Chris Flores to stop the fight at 2 minutes, 18 seconds.
“This was a great performance,” Dogboe said. “I’m glad I got to showcase my skills on ESPN. I’m very thankful for the opportunity. I have a lot of respect for Otake for standing up after getting dropped. When I hit him with that powerful hook and dropped him the first time I felt the holy spirit.”
Otake (31-3-3, 14 KOs), 37, of Japan, didn’t look like he know what had hit him as his nine-fight winning streak came to an end since losing the only other time he fought outside of his home country — a unanimous decision when he challenged then-junior featherweight world titleholder Scott Quigg in 2014 in Liverpool, England.
Dogboe, who made $65,000 to Otake’s $25,000, didn’t have a mark on him after the fight.
“I thought it was going to be a long rest after this fight because I thought we were in for a long fight, but given what happened, I’d like to get him in by the end of the year,” Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti said of Dogboe.
Story bySammy Heywood Okine