The precipitation of the Royal Storm has been very thunderous this year and Isaac Dogboe could crown the calendar year with the biggest individual gong in his young boxing career – the Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year Award due to his sterling performance in 2018.
Dogboe [20-0, 14 KO’s] has recorded three consecutive victories on the road and is set to culminate the year with another fight on December 8 against Emanuel Nevarrete [a co feature of the Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Jose Pedraza WBA/WBO lightweight unification bout] at the Hulu Theater, Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Isaac ‘The Royal Storm’ Dogboe opened his 2018 campaign on January 5 with a fifth-round technical knockout [TKO] victory against Cesar Juarez to win the interim WBO world title at the Trust Boxing Emporium, otherwise known as the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra – The ‘Mecca’ of boxing in Ghana.
On April 28, the 2012 Olympian came from a first round knockdown to dazzle as he stopped Jessie Magdaleno in round 11 to win the WBO junior featherweight title at the former Temple of Apollo in Philadelphia, PA. The fight between Dogboe and Magdaleno has been touted as one of the most competitive bout[s] this year and could also pass muster as the great comeback win of the year.
The African warrior returned to the State on August 25 to defend his title against Hidenori Otake at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. In the end, the much talked about fight between the Kamikaze warrior [Otake] and Isaac Dogboe rather turned out to become a walk in the ring for the young Ghanaian boxing superstar, who floored the Japanese thrice within 2:18 in a single round, forcing referee Patrick Morley to stop the fight prematurely.
Dogboe, who made his professional debut in 2013, knocking out Csaba Toth in round three in Sternensaal, Berne also stands the chance of winning the knockout of the year due to his extraordinary performance in his fight against Hidenori Otake. According to Ring Magazine Ratings the best ten [10] pound-for-pound boxers as published in October 2018 are as follows: Vasiliy Lomachenko, Terence Crawford, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin, Aleksander Usyk, Naoya Inoye, Mikey Garcia, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, Errol Spence, Donniel Nietes.
Although Dogboe’s name cannot be found in the top 10, he’s strongly featured in the top 20 pound-for-pound boxers in the calendar year together with the likes of Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Adonis Stevenson, Danny Jacobs, Danny Garcia, and Erislandy Lara. The Fighter of the Year Award is an initiative of the Boxing Writers Association of America [BWAA] with the aim of recognizing the individual who did the most for boxing in a calendar year. The members of the BWAA vote to decide regardless of the weight class. Isaac Dogboe was named the Sports Personality of the Year [2017] by the Sports Writers Association of Ghana.
Story by: James K. Attaglo Wilson
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