By Allan Fox: Undefeated #3 WBO Isaac Dogboe (18-0, 12 KOs) kept his record perfect in defeating former world title challenger Cesar Juarez (20-6, 15 KOs) by a 5th round knockout on Saturday to capture the interim World Boxing Organization super bantamweight title at the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra, Ghana.
Dogboe, 23, dropped Juarez in the 5th round from a hard left hook to the head. Juarez, 26, got back to his feet, but referee Tony Weeks halted the fight. Juarez looked like he was rubber legs. There was no way Weeks could allow the fight to continue with the way Juarez looked. Earlier in the fight, Dogboe knocked Juarez down in round 2 with a left hook. Dogboe then attempted to finish Juarez off with a flurry of shots, but he made it out of the round just barely.
You could tell this fight was going to be a problem for Juarez. In round 1, Dogboe backed Juarez up against the ropes and unloaded a flurry of hooks to the head. Juarez had to clinch to stop Dogboe from unloading on him. That was the only thing Juarez could do to get Dogboe to stop throwing punches. When Juarez was trying to exchange with Dogboe, he lacked the hand speed and the combination punching to compete with him on an even playing field. Juarez’s clinching was the only thing he could do to keep from getting obliterated. Juarez barely made it to his feet after the knockdown in round 2. He was hurt. The referee Tony Weeks asked Juarez to show him something otherwise he was going to stop the contest.
In round 3, Dogboe nailed Juarez with hooks to the head and body. When Juarez attempted to retaliate with his counter shots, Dogboe would cleverly slip away to avoid the return fire. Juarez did land some nice shots in the round, but only because Dogboe was trying to finish him off. Dogboe was willing to put himself in harm’s way to land his own big punches. Dogboe still ended up outworking Juarez. Dogboe was trying to end the fight, and Juarez knew. He was fighting for survival at that point. Juarez did not look good. He appeared to be still feeling the aftereffects of the knockdown in round 2.
In round 4, Juarez came out fast landing shots to the midsection of Dogboe. Juarez was nailed with a hard uppercut to the head. I don’t know how he took the shot and stayed on his feet. Juarez was putting a lot of pressure on Dogboe, but getting hit with some major shots as he was coming forward.
At the start of round 5, Juarez was landing combinations to the body and looking really good. Dogboe started to time Juarez by loading up on his left hooks each time he would throw a body shot. Finally, Dogboe connected with the perfect left hook that nailed Juarez on the jaw, sending him down hard on the canvas. The fight was then stopped after Juarez got back to his feet.
With the win, Dogboe will now be facing WBO super bantamweight champion Jessie Magdaleno at some point in the near future. That’ll be a tough fight for both guys. Magdaleno is a big step up from Juarez. I’m not sure if Dogboe will be able to handle Magdaleno’s power and boxing skills.