Isaac Dogboe boxed his way into Ghanaian boxing history when he knocked out Jessie Magdaleno in 11 round to become the new World Boxing Organisation junior featherweight champion.
The 23-year-old recovered from a first round knockdown to floor his opponent three times enroute to his 19thwin in 19 fights, 13 of them via knockouts.
“It is a great feeling”, he said afterwards. “I did what Azumah Nelson, Ike Quartey and other great Ghanaian champions did.”
They would have been proud watching him execute the latest victory for a Ghanaian at the highest level of world boxing. Dogboe showed grit, tenacity, astute technical awareness and a dogged determination to win this especially after he was caught out in the first round.
“It was a lesson that I should not be complacent, it is a lesson I will take on well,” he said. And that lesson from that knockdown, the first of Dogboe’s career seemed to guide him through the rest of the fight as he worked his way up on the judge’s score card while battering Magdaleno.
The American was fighting for the first time in a year and struggled to live with Dogboe’s superior punching after the earlier unsettling moment. From the fourth round, Dogboe begun to completely dominate dragging Magdaleno unto the ropes and hurting him consistently.
Dogboe equaled the knockout count by taking Magdaleno down in the sixth round before stepping up his effort. As he right hooks and left upper cut found his range, Magdaleno gestured him “to bring it on” but it didn’t hide the damage Dogboe was doing to him.
The Ghanaian continued to completely dictate the pace of the fight forcing Magdaleno’s corner to urge him to steer clear off the ropes where Dogboe was finding range with his body punches, hooks and upper cuts.
And all that pressure told in the 11thround when he floored Magdaleno twice including one with a right hook and upper cut combination to send him down.
As referee Benjee Esteves signaled the end of the bout, Dogbe knelt on the canvas for a while, arms raised and almost in disbelief at what he had achieved.
Magdaleno, who has not been knocked down in his entire career was floored three times in one fight and acknowledged he had been outclassed. “It’s been an experience”, he said. “He was the better man tonight. He showed a lot of heart tonight.”
There will be many who agree.
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