The former IBF 122-pound champion out-pointed Christopher Diaz and won a debatable majority decision in a classic crossroads bout between boxers who’ve been beaten by WBO featherweight champ Emanuel Navarrete. Dogboe got off to a slow start, but he picked up the pace and had some success during the second half of this 10-rounder on the Terence Crawford-Shawn Porter undercard.
Judge Eric Cheek scored the action even, 95-95, but judges Tim Cheatham (96-94) and Don Trella (97-93) scored their fight for Ghana’s Dogboe at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.
Puerto Rico’s Diaz (26-4, 16 KOs) had hoped to revitalize his career by defeating Dogboe (23-2, 15 KOs) in his first fight since Navarrete stopped him in the 12th round of their fight for Navarrete’s WBO featherweight title April 24 in Kissimmee, Florida. Navarrete previously defeated Dogboe twice in 122-pound championship matches.
Dogboe tried to press Diaz during the 10th round, but he had trouble catching Diaz with flush punches. He landed a straight right in the final minute of the fight, though, and repeatedly threw hard shots at Dogboe’s body.
Dogboe landed a counter left on the inside about 40 seconds into the ninth round.
A left hook by Diaz knocked Dogboe off balance with just over 20 seconds to go in the eighth round. Approximately 10 seconds later, a clash of heads caused a brief break in the action and prompted Caiz to warn Dogboe for leading with his head.
Out of a southpaw stance, Dogboe landed a straight left that backed up Diaz about 1:20 into the seventh round.
Dogboe had a very strong sixth round after having difficulty catching Diaz with flush punches in the first five rounds.
Barely 30 seconds into the sixth round, Dogboe landed a right hand that caused Diaz to hold him. With just under two minutes remaining in the sixth round, Dogboe drilled Diaz with a thudding left to his body.
With about 40 seconds to go in the sixth round, Dogboe landed another left to Diaz’s body and followed with a right hand up top that made Diaz retreat.
Diaz snapped back Dogboe’s head by landing a hard jab with just over a minute to go in the fifth round.
Diaz connected with a counter left hook toward the end of the fourth round. With just over a minute to go in the fourth round, Dogboe snuck in a hard left to Diaz’s body.
Diaz landed a right hand that made Dogboe move away from him with just over 20 seconds on the clock in the third round.
Diaz worked well off of his jab and avoided most of Dogboe’s power punches during the opening round.
BY KEITH IDEC
