By Mike Smith: In a surprise upset, #2 WBO mandatory challenger Emanuel Navarrete (25-1, 22 KOs) used his five inch height advantage to defeat previously unbeaten 5’2″ World Boxing Organization super bantamweight champion Isaac Dogboe (20-0, 14 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in their fight on ESPN at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 116-112. Boxing News 24 had the 23-year-old Mexican slugger Navarrete winning by a close 115-113 score.
Navarrete was getting the better of Dogboe through the first six rounds. Around the midpoint of the fight, Navarrete suffered a right hand injury that temporarily limited his ability to load up on his shots. Dogboe then came on in the middle rounds to work Navarrete over on the inside with power shots to the body. It looked like the fight had changed hands completely. After a slip by Navarrete in the 8th round that put him on the canvas. Navarrete got up off the canvas and punished Dogboe with heavy shots to the head with both hands. That was a watershed moment in the fight, as Navarrete was not going to let Dogboe work him over to take the win. From that point on, Navarrete pummeled Dogboe, messing his face up with his heavy shots, and dominating.
Navarrete wore Dogboe down with his steady pressure, heavy hands and his huge size advantage tonight The size advantage that Navarrete was incredible. He looked to be at least two divisions heavier than Dogboe after he rehydrated overnight. Last Friday at the weigh-in, Navarrete looked painfully thin at 5’7″, 122 lbs compared to Dogboe’s 120 lbs. After Navarrete rehydrated overnight, he looked like a lightweight. Navarrete looked as big as World Boxin Association lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko, who will be fighting in the main event against WBO champion Jose Pedraza. Just how Navarrete was able to make weight for the Dogboe fight is anyone’s guess. It must have been incredibly hard for Navarrete to shed all that water weight and then rehydrate to his current size.
It would be interesting to see Navarrete face Jessie Magdaleno. That would be two sluggers going at it.
Dogboe needs to think about moving down to bantamweight [118 lbs] to fight against guys his own size. The top guys that fight at super bantamweight right now are too big. Dogboe was fortunate to beat former WBO 122 lb champion Jessie Magdaleno last April. Dogboe looked a lot smaller than Magdaleno after the two rehydrated, and he was belted around the ring by the Mexican fighter until he gassed out. If not for Magdaleno gassing out, he would have beaten Dogboe too. Magdaleno looked like a lightweight after he rehydrated as well.
If Dogboe doesn’t want to continue to face guys with a huge size advantage over him, then he needs to move down to bantamweight so he can fight guys roughly his own size. But even at 118, there are fighters that are still going to be a lot bigger than Dogboe once they rehydrate. Boxing needs to start going back to same day weigh-ins, and have them take place right before the fighters step foot inside the ring so that they can’t rehydrate in a hurry, which you can believe they’ll do.
In other boxing results on the card:
Undefeated lightweight Teofimo Lopez (11-0, 9 KOs) defeated Mason Menard (34-4, 24 KOs) by a 1st round knockout. The fight was stopped in 44 seconds of round one. Lopez dropped Menard with a right to the head. The fight was then stopped. It was a good win for Lopez, who needs to step it up against better opposition if he wants to find someone that can give him a good test.
Unbeaten #1 WBA welterweight contender Alexander Besputin (12-0 9 KOs) defeated Juan Carlos Abreu (21-5-1, 19 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The judges’ scores were 100-88, 100-88 and 100-88. Earlier in the fight, Besputin, 27, knocked Abreu down in the 1st round. In the 8th, the Russian Besputin knocked Abreu down for the second time in the fight. It was smooth sailing for Besputin the rest of the way.
Making his pro debut, 2016 Olympian heavyweight Guido Vianello (1-0, 1 KO) destroyed Luke Lyons (5-2-1, 2 KOs) by a 2nd round knockout. Vianello knocked Lyons down twice in the fight in dropping him in the 1st and 2nd round. The fight was halted after Vianello dropped Lyons in the 2nd. The official time of the stoppage was at 29 second of the 2nd round.
Light welterweight Josue Vargas (12-1, 8 KOs) defeated John Renteria (16-6-1, 12 KOs) by a 5th round knockout. The fight was stopped by the referee at 0:31 of round 5. Vargas knocked Renteria in round 2 and 4 before ending the fight in the 5th.
Light welterweight Abdiel Ramirez (24-3-1, 22 KOs) defeated Michael Perez (25-3-1, 11 KOs) by an eighth round knockout. Ramirez took the fight to Perez in the 8th round to get the stopped. The official time of the stoppage was at 0:54 of round 8.
Undefeated welterweight prospect Brian Ceballo (6-0, 3 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a four round unanimous decision win over journeyman Daniel Calzada (16-20-3, 2 KOs). The scores were 40-36, 40-36 and 40-36.
