Isaac Dogboe’s planned long term reign as the WBO junior featherweight king begins with a first title defence against veteran Japanese slugger, Hidenori Otake on August 25 in the USA.
23 year old Dogboe annexed the belt after destroying Jessie Magdaleno in Philadelphia on April 28, now he must see off the Otake, a former world title challenger in order to possibly set up a unification bout against WBA champ, Daniel Roman who also staged a successful defence only last month.
Promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions, the Dogboe-Otake clash will also feature WBO lightweight champion, Raymundo Beltran making his own first defence of the title he defeated Paulus Moses of Namibia to win back in February.
Dogboe remains undefeated having won all 19 career fights with 12 knockouts to back and tests his credentials to unify the super bantamweight division against the veteran of 36 career fights winning 31, drawing three and suffering just two losses, the last of which came in a bid for the WBA super bantamweight world title against Scott Quigg in November 2014.
Currently the WBO number 6 ranked junior featherweight to Dogboe’s title, Otake is coming off a successful third defence of the OPBF super bantamweight belt in March when he stopped Filipino, Brian Lobetania in Tokyo.
He first won the title by defeating another Filipino, Jilbert Gomera at the same Kokaruen Hall in the Japan capital in March last year before defending it against Japanese compatriot, Kinshiro Usui four months later via a round 10 KO. Barely three months later, Otake made a second defence at the same venue on October 13, 2017, earning a unanimous decision 117-111, 116-112, 116-112 to force a first career defeat on rising 21 year old compatriot, Hinata Maruta, a former WBC world youth bantamweight champion.
The man who made his professional debut in December 2005 when Isaac Dogboe was only 11 years old goes into battle against the Ghanaian on August 25 riding a 9-fight winning run since the world title fight defeat nearly four years ago. His other defeat came in his 9th career fight, a unanimous decision reverse against Manabu Koguchi, also of Japan after five rounds of a super bantamweight contest in Tokyo in November 2007.
Otake returned stronger however, going undefeated in 12 straight fights (11 wins, one draw) spanning over four years before annexing the Japan super bantamweight belt courtesy a split points decision win over Takafumi Nakajima in August 2012, the first title of his then 6 and half years career.
He defended the Japan title four times in two years before stepping up to the big plate to take on Quigg for the WBA world title, albeit unsuccessfully at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK, his first fight outside the Kakoruen Hall in Tokyo.
Now after returning to his favourite hunting ground and recoding nine straight victories, winning and defending multiple times, the OPBC super bantamweight title along the way and rising through the world rankings, positioning himself at number 6 in both IBF and WBO of course as well as number 8 in the WBC rankings, Otake has been called to step up to the biggest plate of them all in posisbly Las Vegas, Nevada against the might of the undefeated Dogboe, a former Olympian at age 17 who has risen through the rankings, fighting and beating the biggest names in his way to world glory.
Dogboe of course claimed the title in convincing fashion via a round 11 TKO of previously undefeated titlist, Magdaleno and has been tipped to reign for a long time. The ‘Royal Storm’ is currently back in London getting prepared for Hidenori Otake.