Filipino Neil John Tabanao has lost his WBO Oriental featherweight title to unbeaten WBO African featherweight champion Isaac Dogboe who also grabbed the WBC Youth title with a gritty unanimous decision over the WBO No. 15 ranked Filipino before a huge crowd at the Police Officers Social and Fitness Center in Accra, Ghana.
David Finger reported that it was Dogboe's "first major test against a world class contender and the Ghana boxer passed with flying colours. It was a competitive, back-and forth war highlighted by Dogboe's defensive prowess and Tabanao's toughness and aggression" but ultimately the slick defense of Dogboe and effective counter-punching even though he hurt his left hand after throwing a left hook in the 5th round which hampered his punching power in the later rounds.
All three judges scored the fight for Dogboe who won by a 120-109 shutout on one judge's scorecard and 119-110 and 117-113 on the other two.
The fight which was televised on Ghana TV gave fight fans outside of Africa a chance to see one of the hottest prospects with the 21 year old Dogboe bringing his unbeaten record to 15-0 with 9 knockouts and according to ringside reports he looks ready to take on featherweight champion Oscar Valdez in the near future.
With the loss Tabanao dropped to 13-2 with 9 knockouts.
He had won the vacant WBO Oriental title with a 3rd round TKO over Ibrahim Balla last June 11 after scoring a 4th round knockout of 53 fight veteran Marvin Tampus who had 27 wins with 18 knockouts.
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