By Ian S Palmer
The vacant WBO Featherweight Title is up for grabs this Saturday, April 1st as former WBO Super Bantamweight Champion Isaac Dogboe of Ghana takes on Cuban southpaw Robeisy Ramirez. The 12-rounder from Tulsa, Oklahoma can be seen live in America on ESPN+ while fans in the UK can catch it on Sky Sports Action. Dogboe last fought in July when he edged Joet Gonzalez by a 10-round split decision to take his WBO International Featherweight Belt. Ramirez last boxed in October when he stopped Jose Matias Romero in the ninth round.
The 28-year-old Dogboe hails from Accra, Ghana but fights out of London, England. He’ll climb into the ring with a fine mark of 24-2 with 15 Ko’s. Dogboe enjoyed a fine amateur career and boxed at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. He turned pro a year later and has fought 172 rounds since then. He’s also won several regional and minor titles since turning pro including the West African Boxing Union, WBO Africa, WBC Youth Silver, WBO Oriental, and NABF Featherweight Titles as well as the WBO International and WBO World Super Bantamweight Titles.
Dogboe won the interim WBO Super Bantamweight Belt in January, 2018 when he stopped Cesar Juarez in the fifth round. He then earned the full belt when he stopped former champion Jessie Magdaleno in the 11th round of a thriller just three months later after being dropped in the first round. He defended the title with a first-round stoppage over Hidenori Otake and then lost it by unanimous decision to Emanuel Navarrete in December 2018 and was stopped in the last round of their rematch five months later.
Dogboe stands 5-feet-4-inches tall with a 64-inch reach and has pretty good power in his fists with a 57.7 per cent knockout ratio but has gone the distance in his last three fights. Dogboe also has wins over the likes of Cristopher Diaz, Adam Lopez, Chris Avalos, Javier Nicolas Chacon and Julian Aristule. He made a name for himself and burst on the international boxing scene after his impressive performances against Magdaleno and Otake. He showed a lot of fight and heart in both battles with Navarrete and has bounced back with four wins in a row since losing to Navarrete.
The 29-year-old Ramirez fights out of Florida and has gone 68 rounds since making his pro debut in 2019. He’s best known for his excellent amateur career which saw him win the Cuban National Championships as well as win gold at the 2010 AIBA Youth Championships and Youth Olympic Games as the 2011 Pan American Games, 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games and at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
After winning so much as an amateur, including two Olympic golds, Ramirez came out cold in his pro debut as he was dropped in the first round and lost an embarrassing four-round split decision to Adan Gonzales. Since then he’s won all 11 of his fights with seven stoppages and beat Gonzales via a six-round unanimous decision in their rematch in July, 2020. He has yet to fight a legitimate contender though so will be taking a big leap in class against Dogboe this weekend.
Ramirez has captured the vacant NABO Jr Featherweight title as a pro as well as the vacant WBO Global, and IBF USBA Featherweight Belts. He measures 5-feet-5-inches tall with a 68-inch reach which gives him an inch height advantage on Dogboe and a four-inch edge in reach. As far as power goes, Ramirez has decent power with a current knockout ratio of 58.3 per cent.
Prediction…
As usual, Dogboe has a size disadvantage here but his power is equal to Ramirez’s. He’s also slightly younger than Ramirez and has plenty more pro experience. That being said, he’ll need to constantly let his hands go or he’s going to be outboxed. I can see this being a close fight but am leaning towards Ramirez due to his superior boxing skills.
