At the age of 24, Isaac is a five-year pro. A former WBO junior featherweight world champion, he won the title in April, 2018, and has made one defense. Before his debut, he was an amateur standout who represented his native Ghana in the 2012 Olympic Games.
Isaac is a popular performer in Ghana – he has headlined several fight cards in Accra and drawn capacity crowds. Former Ghanian President Jerry Rawlings is one of his fans and has attended a number Isaac’s fights.
With his aggressive, exciting style, he now also has a rapidly growing fan base here, too.
In his last fight on December 8 in New York, Isaac lost the title by 12-round unanimous decision against Emanuel Navarrete.
ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael reported from ringside [excerpts]: Emanuel Navarrete was fighting outside of his native Mexico for the first time but never seemed unnerved by it or the fact that he would be on the biggest stage of his career when he faced junior featherweight world titlist Isaac Dogboe.
And Navarrete, the mandatory challenger, took it to Dogboe. He landed a lot of hard punches, swelled Dogboe’s face and scored an upset unanimous decision….
Two judges scored the fight 116-112 for Navarrete and the third had it 115-113.
Dogboe had burst on the scene early this year, winning an interim title by knocking out Cesar Juarez in the fifth round in January, then claiming the full title with a rousing 11th-round knockout of Jessie Magdaleno in April followed by a first-round demolition of Hidenori Otake in August. But Navarrete, a much bigger man, could not be tamed in Dogboe’s second title defense and he gave Navarrete credit.
The fight got off to a spirited start with several exciting exchanges in the early rounds. Navarrete suffered a cut on the left side of his hairline in the second round but he also seemed to rattle Dogboe with a right hand.
Dogboe, the shorter man, worked the body very well, but Navarrete found a home for his left hand, which he landed flush several times.
Navarrete charged after Dogboe during the fifth round, landed some right hands and had him in retreat. By the sixth round, Dogboe’s right eye was swelling. He also had swelling on the left side of his face. Dogboe applied intense pressure in the eighth round, but Navarrete withstood it and fired back.
Dogboe landed a right hand behind the head that dropped Navarrete in the ninth round, but [the] referee did not call it because it was an illegal punch.
Navarrete (26-1, 22 KOs), had Dogboe in some trouble in the 11th round as Dogboe’s left eye was nearly closed and he might not have been able to see the punches coming. His legs also looked unsteady as Navarrete chased him around the ring.
In the final round, Navarrete continued to come forward and Dogboe, whose face was a mess, grabbed on to Navarrete whenever he got close. [End Rafael item]
In his post-fight interview, Isaac said, “It was a great fight, and Emanuel Navarrete fought like a true Mexican warrior. Champions are supposed to keep going under any circumstance, but I just couldn’t get the victory. The best man won tonight.”
In an earlier interview, manager-trainer-father Paul Dogboe said, “I spar Isaac. My 13-year-old boy, Josiah, spars Isaac. My cousin spars Isaac – all the coaches spar Isaac. That’s what we do. We don’t go for any high-level sparring anywhere, because we all spar with Isaac. Our names are – Paul Dogboe, me, his father, Josiah Dogboe, his 13-year-old brother, Gameli Dogboe, his uncle and trainer, Makafui Abotsi, his cousin and trainer, and Godwin Quashigah, his trainer.
“There’s another story maybe you don’t know. Isaac comes from one of the royal families in Ghana – the royal Badu family from Anyako. I – Paul Dogboe – am the direct heir to the throne, if God permits. If that time comes, I might not be in Isaac’s corner anymore so he should enjoy it now. We are Ewe. [pr. EH-weh – one of the tribes in Ghana] In Ghana, the boxers come from the Accra area, but we are not from the Accra area. We are from the Volta Region of Ghana. Anyako is the village where we come from.”
In an earlier interview, Isaac described his own style simply as, “Offensive, moves forward.”
Regarding his nickname, Isaac said, “It is a combination of my royal lineage and demeanor. It is because I am from the Royal Badu family of Anyako in the Volta Region of Ghana and my demeanor is altered in the ring, it almost hits the opponent like a storm.”
AMATEUR, PERSONAL BACKGROUND: Manager-trainer-father Paul Dogboe said, “I’ve been living in London, I would say, for 18 years now. I was in England when Isaac was born in Anyako, in the Volta region of Ghana. When he was about seven years old I brought him into England. He has five brothers and one sister – they were all born in London. Josiah Dogboe is 13, Jeremiah Dogboe is 11, Malachi Dogboe is six, and Tiana Dogboe is eight. I was a soldier in the British Army. I wasn’t long in the British military, I’d say five or six years because I was on-and-off.
“All of Isaac’s brothers play football – soccer. They play for a team called Lambeth Tigers. Josiah is 13 years old, he’s the one that likes to box that I’m training.
“Isaac started boxing when he was 13 and he had 38 amateur fights. All of his amateur fights were in England – we were all living in Pennington Park. When we went to Ghana for the Olympic qualifier in Casablanca, that’s how he got a chance to box for Ghana when he was 17 years old.”…
From easytrackghana.com [excerpts]: Ghana is a place with a multitude of tribes, religions, languages, and customs all coexisting peacefully. Let us give you some basic information on some of the people you will meet in Ghana.
Ashanti: The Ashanti are an Akan people and their tribe is the largest in Ghana.
Ewe: The Ewe people occupy southeastern Ghana and parts of neighboring Togo and Benin. The Ewe are essentially a patrilineal people, the founder of a community became the chief and was usually succeeded by his paternal relatives.
Fante: The Mfantsefo or Fante are an Akan people. This ethnic group is mainly gathered in the south-western coastal region of Ghana.
Ga: The Ga-Adangbe are about 2 million, making about 8% of Ghana’s population. They mostly live in the southeastern coastal region of the Greater Accra region in Accra, Tema, La, Ningo, Kpone, Prampram, and Ada.
Dagomba: The Dagomba people are a large group that populate the northern regions of Ghana and Burkina Faso. [End easytrackghana.com item]
AMATEUR HIGHLIGHTS:
2013 ENGLISH ABA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS – 132 pounds/elite division – GOLD MEDALIST: in the quarterfinals (his first fight) on 3-24-13 in Harlow, England, he won a 5-0 decision against Kieron Reading; in the semifinals on 4-6-13 in Grove Park, England, he won a 5-0 decision against Joe Yugi; in the finals on 4-20-13 in Houghton-le-Spring, England, he won a 5-0 decision against Ryan Fillingham…
2012 SENIOR NOVICE ABA CHAMPIONSHIPS – 125 pounds/Class B – GOLD MEDALIST: in the semifinals he defeated Eli Green; in the finals he defeated Cain Adams…
2012 DUALS LONDON VS. DUBLIN – London, England, 123 pounds: on 10-1-12 he lost a decision against Declan Geraghty of Ireland…
2012 OLYMPIC GAMES – London, England, 123 pounds: in his first fight on 7-28-12 he lost a 10-9 decision against Satoshi Shimizu of Japan…
2012 DUALS GHANA VS. BENIN – Accra, Ghana, 123 pounds: in an extra bout on 3-6-12 he had a draw against Patrick Aryee of Ghana…
2012 Ghana vs. Gabon Duals – Accra, Ghana 123 pounds: in his only fight he had an 8-8 draw against Romeo Lemboumba of Gabon…
2012 AFRICAN OLYMPIC QUALIFIER – Casablanca, Morocco, 123 pounds – SILVER MEDALIST: in his first fight on 4-30-12 he won a 15-12 decision against Mohamed Bedir Farag Hassan of Egypt; in the quarterfinals on 5-2-12 he won a 19-9 decision against Emilian Patrick Polino of Tanzania; in the semifinals on 5-4-12 he won an 8-6 decision against Ayabonga Sonjica of South Africa; in the finals on 5-5-12 he had a 6-6 draw, but lost the tiebreaker against Aboubaker Seddik Lbida of Morocco…
2012 GHANIAN SELECTION MEETING – Accra, Ghana, 123 pounds: in his only fight he lost a decision against Jessie Lartey…
2011 ENGLISH JUNIOR & YOUTH NATIONALS – Rochester, England, 119 pounds – SILVER MEDALIST: in the quarterfinals (his first fight) he defeated Harley Hodgetts; in the semifinals he defeated Coran Holden; in the finals on 5-22-11 he lost a 19-11 decision against Thomas Ward…
STRENGTHS: Has an aggressive style and good punching power…physically strong…has good skills and movement…a good body puncher…had a strong amateur background…
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 21 fights…122 total rounds…24 world championship rounds…5 interim world title rounds…
AVERAGE LENGTH OF BOUTS: 5.8 rounds…
KNOCKOUT PERCENTAGE: of total fights – 66 %…of wins – 70 %…
DISTANCE FIGHTS: 12 rounds – 3 (2-1)…11 rounds – 1 (1-0)…10 rounds – 0…
