Cesar Juarez vs. Isaac Dogboe set for interim WBO title fight

Early last month, injury scrapped a planned super bantamweight title fight between WBO champ Jessie Magdaleno and top contender Cesar Juarez. Rather than sit idly while Magdaleno recovers, the sanctioning body has put together an interim title fight between Juarez and WBO #3 Isaac Dogboe on January 6th in the latter’s native Accra, Ghana.

It’s not quite Juarez-Tapales good, but it’s still a solid fight.

Juarez (20-5, 15 KO) poleaxed Albert Pagara to regain his place in the rankings following consecutive losses to Nonito Donaire and Giovanni Delgado, then won two stay-busy fights in Mexico in preparation for his fight with Magdaleno. He’s a powerful and entertainingly vulnerable fighter who should make for a quality scrap with any of the super bantamweight elite.

Dogboe (17-0, 11 KO), a 2012 Olympian who got arguably shafted against eventual medalist Satoshi Shimizu at the age of 17, has enjoyed a reasonably paced rise since getting bored of smashing no-hopers like 0-31 Aminu Turkson. The majority of his career has taken place in Ghana, but he’s fought around the world and got some exposure on the Joseph Parker-Andy Ruiz card.

Putting more titles in play is generally not ideal, but the winner must face Magdaleno next and it’s a strong matchup between young fighters. Not bad.