The World Boxing Organisation (WBO) featherweight title eliminator between Isaac ‘Royal Storm’ Dogboe and America’s Joet Gonzalez has been moved to headline a July 23 Top Rank show on ESPN+ from Grand Casino in Hinckley, Minnesota.
The upgrade came about after Top Rank decided to relocate its originally scheduled main event between former titlists Jose Pedraza and Richard Commey to an August 27 show on an ESPN platform.
Confirming the upgrade, Ghana’s former WBO 122 pound champion Dogboe announced on Twitter on Wednesday that his upcoming bout has been moved as the main event of the July 23 card.
“God is great”, tweeted the former WBO junior featherweight titlist. “I got good news today from Carl Moretti (Director of Operations for Top Rank) that I’ve been elevated to Main Event for July 23rd fight. Let’s gooooooo! NEHOOO!!!”
Gonzalez (25-2, 15KOs) comes into the fight on the back of a ninth-round stoppage of Jeo Santisima on March 4 in Fresno, California.
The American lost a unanimous decision in favour of WBO featherweight titlist Emanuel Navarrete (35-1, 29KOs) last October in San Diego.
Dogboe (23-2, 15KOs) will fight for the first time in 2022. The former WBO junior featherweight titlist was due to return to the ring on May 21 as part of the Tevin Farmer-Mickey Bey independent pay-view-show originally scheduled to take place in Accra.
Dogboe — who is trained by Barry Hunter — was pulled from the show once it relocated to Dubai, though the event was eventually canceled outright.
The fight with Gonzalez comes on a back of a three-fight winning streak since moving up to featherweight following consecutive title fight losses to Navarrete.
In his last fight, Dogboe outpointed former title challenger Christopher Diaz over ten rounds last November 20.
Credit: Graphic Sports