WBO super-bantamweight Isaac Dogboe stamped his authority on the division. The London-based Ghanaian was tipped to beat Hidenori Otake in Glendale, Arizona but no one expected him to destroy the 37 year old Japanese veteran in the first round.
Otake afterall had gone the distance with Scott Quigg and has been on a nine-fight winning run since.
Dogboe set out with real intent. He got to work quickly, hammering blows round Otake’s defences. Isaac lead with his left hook, blasting the punch round the Japanese fighter’s guard. Accurate, it landed with tremendous force and set Otake down heavily.
“We knew that Otake was very strong,” Dogboe said. “He’s a pressure fighter, he just keeps coming forward. We knew that we had to come in hot.”
Otake came straight back at him, steaming forward. But Isaac lashed him back. He fired a hard right down and the Japanese touched the canvas to get a second count.
On resumption Dogboe fired in another left hook, shifting Otake along the canvas. Isaac was shaking his challenger with heavy shots.
He set about Otake, looking for the finish, left hooks hooks hitting home and a final right uppercut screamed in. Referee Chris Flores leapt in to stop it at 2-18 of the first round.
“The battle is always His, in all things all the glory belongs to almighty God,” Isaac said afterwards. “I couldn’t wait to get back on ESPN.”
He repeated his battle cry of “neho”. He explained, “Simply it means to uproot from the ground. We’re going to take it at all costs.” That is exactly what Isaac did.
Looking into the camera he addressed “all these other so called champions”. “They fail, they all fail to sign a contract. But the new kid is on the block,” Dogboe said. “All you world champions out there, come, let’s get it on.”
“Come out, let’s do this. Arizona you’ve been fantastic,” he continued. “You are the people.”
