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Mike CoppingerESPN
Robeisy Ramirez and Isaac Dogboe will meet in a featherweight bout with title implications on April 1 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, sources told ESPN.
The Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ main event is expected to be contested for either the vacant WBO featherweight title or the interim belt.
Emanuel Navarrete, the WBO champion at 126 pounds, meets Liam Wilson on Feb. 3 for the WBO’s vacant title at 130 pounds. Navarrete is expected to fight Oscar Valdez in a rescheduled 130-pound bout afterward but could always elect to return to 126.
Ramirez (11-1, 7 KOs) is a two-time Olympic gold medalist from Cuba who broke out in 2022 with three victories, most notably a highlight-reel KO of Abraham Nova in June. The 29-year-old closed the campaign with a ninth-round TKO of Jose Matias Romero in October.
Dogboe (24-2, 15 KOs) is a former 122-pound champion who lost his title to Navarrete via decision in 2018. Navarrete scored a 12th-round TKO in the rematch the following year. Dogboe, 28, from Ghana, moved up to 126 pounds afterward and has won all four of his featherweight fights.
Those wins came over some recognizable names, including Adam Lopez, Christopher Diaz and most recently, Joet Gonzalez.
Dogboe is rated No. 10 by ESPN at featherweight. Ramirez and Dogboe are the top two available contenders in the WBO’s 126-pound ratings.
Source: www.espn.com