Champions Always Get Up: Isaac Dogbe Vows To Bounce Back

Former World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight champion Isaac Dogbe has vowed to bounce back and challenge for the title after he lost out to Mexico’s Emmanuel Navarrete last night.

After 12 rounds of the fiercely contested bout, the challenger Navarrete was declared the winner by unanimous decision after he outpunched and outpointed Dogbe at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.

The judges on the night scored the fight 116-112, 116-112, 115-113, all in favour of the Mexican.

This was the second time the Ghanaian was defending his world title after he won it earlier this year from Jessie Magdaleno.

He managed to beat Hidenori Otake in the first defense of the title but fell short when he came up against Navarrete.

In a post-bout interview, Dogbe was asked if he fancied a rematch to challenge for the title he has lost. The boxer responded;

“Most definitely. I didn’t have the best of training camp this trip. It’s unfortunate that am not leaving with the title. He has thought me a lesson that next time I have got to work extra hard and do what we used to do previously. I have learnt a lesson that I cannot take things easy. We have got to work as hard as we were and keep maintaining the hunger that we had before we captured the title.

Nicknamed the Royal Storm, Dogbe also conceded that he underestimated his opponent on the day and that contributed to his loss. He has however congratulated the new WBO Super Bantamweight champion on his victory as he believes the best man won on the night.

“We underestimated him a little bit but look this is a fire game. The best is supposed to fight the best. At the end of the night the best man won tonight and I can only say congratulations to him, Dogbe said.

He continued, “He (Emmanuel Navarrete) fought like a true Mexican, he fought a great fight and I couldn’t stay down. Champions are not meant to stay down. We are supposed to go down and get back up and keep fighting. And that’s exactly what I did”.