Ghana’s former WBO Super Bantamweight champion Isaac ‘Royal Storm’ Dogboe over the weekend continued his campaign to come to the top as the world champion once again when he battled it out with America’s Adam Lopez.
Isaac Dogboe claimed the ten-round majority decision win at this Saturday evening’s bout in Las Vegas.
The first Judge Dave Moretti scored the bout 95-95, second judges Chris Migliore scored the bout 97-93 and third Don Trella scored the 96-94.
The two scored in favor of Dogboe in a spirited featherweight battle with just four and two points ahead of Lopez.
Again, the total punches of the ten-round bout indicated that Adam Lopez threw more punches than Isaac Dogboe.
Statistics indicate that Lopez was ahead of Dogboe in the entire bout. Lopez threw 527 punches as against Dogboe who threw 487 punches.
152 of Lopez’s entire punches landed as against 134 of that of Dogboe which also landed, representing 29% and 28% respectively, all in favour of Lopez.
The only portion that went in favour of Dogboe was the punches that landed on Lopez’s body which Dogboe scored 31 points for against Lopez who scored 25 points.
With the above analysis and statistics, I, as a boxing enthusiast, ardent supporter of Dogboe and every boxer in Ghana and boxing pundit believe that Isaac Dogboe was not impressive.
This is because prior to the bout on Saturday, the father of Isaac Dogboe, [Paul Dogboe] A former trainer, made it appear as though the bout was going to be a walk over for his son.
According to Dogboe’s father, Adam Lopez was way below the pedigree of his son and as such there was no stress to anticipate on fight night.
At this moment, let me quote the father “I don’t think Adam Lopez can cause any threat to Isaac Dogboe unless he isn’t well prepared. Adam Lopez is not a world champion pedigree. It’s going to be a walkover for Isaac, because come on man, Adam Lopez? He [Isaac Dogboe] used to beat this kid [Lopez] hands down in the sparring gym in California two years ago when I used to train Isaac”.
The above comments from the father gave us hope that Isaac was going to ‘finish’ Lopez in the early rounds, but that did not happen.
Isaac and Lopez went to the full ten-rounds with just six points difference to carry the day, which to me, wasn’t impressive.
The 95-95, 97-93 and 96-94 scores put Dogboe just six points ahead of Lopez and that was dangerous. Dogboe should have ended the bout in the early rounds and not to go the full length of the ten-rounds.
If this had been the case, it would have increased the confidence of Ghanaians in boxing and also increased the confidence boxing enthusiasts have in Isaac Dogboe.
Yes, we are all happy he won but with a margin of just six points, makes it unimpressive. His trainers should work on his punches well so that his third bout after being defeated twice by Emanuel Navarrete will bring hope to Ghanaians.
I believe Isaac Dogboe should learn from the ‘tenacity’ of Emanuel Navarrete who made sure he tasted his first and second defeat in his career in 2018 and 2019 respectfully.
The back-to-back defeats of Emanuel Navarrete should have been a lesson for Isaac Dogboe because from the analysis, Emanuel Navarrete is able to sustain his speed and strength right from the beginning of the bout to the end.
But notwithstanding, we congratulate Isaac Dogboe and his team and wish him well as he prepares to face his next opponent whose identity we do not yet know.
By Kweku Antwi-Otoo
The writer is a Producer and Editor with Media General and a Level 400 LLB Student of Kings University College Law Faculty.
Views and comments expressed in the article do not reflect the editorial policies of 3news.com.