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Dogboe to face Ramirez for WBO title April 1

Former World Boxing Organisation (WBO) junior featherweight champion, Isaac ‘Royal Storm’ Dogboe has declared his readiness to reclaim his spot as a world champion against Cuban, Robeisy Ramirez.

Dogboe, 28, faces-off against the 29-year old Ramirez (11-1, 7KOs) on April 1 in a WBO featherweight title fight in the USA with the venue yet to be confirmed.

Speaking at a media briefing yesterday in Accra dubbed ‘Jour­ney to Rule the World II’ Dogboe described Ramirez as “a no push-over and a winner.”

“My opponent is a great fighter; at this level no one is a pushover. Everyone is a king and so it will be two kings facing-off.”

He added that Ramirez, a two-time Olympic gold winner, provides the right experience and test for him at this stage of his ca­reer; he only welcomed tough and highly-rated fighters.

Dogboe also touched on the World Boxing Council (WBC) order for a title eliminator in the featherweight division where Dogboe was to face Filipino Mark Magsayo.

He said his focus currently was on the Ramirez fight as his plan was to take one challenge at a time and a fight at a time.

He reckoned that a win against Ramirez will send him into the Magsayo duel as a champion and that would be a huge morale booster.

When quizzed about possibly meeting Navarrete, who he lost to twice in a bid to become WBO featherweight champion but has moved up to the lightweight division, he responded that if that situation came he would face it.

Dogboe’s last fight was against American Joet Gonzalez who he defeated by a split decision in July 2022 in a WBC title eliminator that also had a WBO title belt on the line.

That win placed him in pole-po­sition to become a two-time world champion by opening the oppor­tunity for him to challenge for the world title.

 The Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) president, Mr Abraham Kotei Neequaye, said his outfit was fully behind Dogboe and rallied support for his title fight.

He described Dogboe as ‘the eye of Ghana’ and indicated that the GBA would be monitoring his progress up until the bout.

BY NANA BENTSI ODURO

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