By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated WBO Super Bantamweight Champion Isaac Dogboe of Ghana will be defending his crown at the Gila River Arena in in Glendale, Arizona this Saturday, August 25th when he battles it out with Hidenori Otake of Japan. Dogboe won the belt in his last fight in April when he stopped former champion Jessie Magdaleno in the 11th round of a thriller. Otake was last in the ring back in March when he stopped Brian Lobetania in the 10th round. The 12-round bout can be seen live in the U.S. on ESPN and ESPN Deportes while fans in the UK and Ireland can catch it on BoxNation.
Dogboe is still just 23 years old and hails from Accra, but fights out of London, England. He’ll climb into the ring with a perfect mark of 19-0 along with 13 Kos. He enjoyed a fine amateur career and boxed at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. He turned pro a year later and has boxed 109 rounds since then. He’s won several regional and minor titles since turning pro including the West African Boxing Union, WBO Africa, WBC Youth Silver and WBO Oriental Featherweight Titles as well as the WBO International and WBO World Super Bantamweight Titles.
Dogboe may have been dropped in the first round by Magdaleno, but proved he owns a solid chin as well as pretty good power with a current knockout ratio of 68 per cent. He’s 5-feet-2-inches tall with a 66-inch reach and has also beaten the likes of Cesar Juarez, Javier Nicolas Chacon and Julian Aristule. Other than Magdaleno, most of Dogboe’s opponents won’t be recognized by the average boxing fan, but that doesn’t really matter since he’s now a world champion after his very impressive performance against Magdaleno.
Fans who are anxious to see Dogboe in action again are probably disappointed in his opponent for his first defence. This is because Otake is 37 years old, 14 years Dogboe’s senior, and hasn’t fought many recognizable opponents either. Otake hails from Fukushimi and carries around a record of 31-2-3. He’s a tough, durable boxer with a solid chin and has yet to be stopped. He’s boxed 241 rounds since turning pro in 2005 and has captured the OPBF, and Japanese Super Bantamweight Titles during his career. He enters the fight on a nine-bout winning streak.
Otake’s defeats came at the hands of Scott Quigg by unanimous decision in a shot at the WBA Title in 2014 as well as a five-round unanimous decision to Manabu Koguchi seven years earlier. It’s doubtful you’ll know any of his other opponents since Otake’s fought his entire career in Tokyo, other than his loss to Quigg in Liverpool, England. The Japanese boxer is just over 5-feet-7-inches tall with an unlisted reach, so he has a decent five-inch reach advantage over Dogboe. He doesn’t have much in the way of power though with a knockout ratio of 39 per cent.
Prediction…
Due to the 14-year age difference between Dogboe and Otake and the fact Dogboe looked so impressive against Magdaleno, it’s hard to see him losing this fight. He’s young, fast, powerful, owns a good chin, aggressive and perhaps most of all is now extremely confident. Dogboe might not be able to stop Otake, but will still retain his belt.
