Emanuel Navarrete submitted his entry for "Upset of the Year" by dethroning Isaac Dogboe and winning the WBO super bantamweight title.
Navarrete scored a unanimous decision win over Dogboe (115-113, 116-112, 116-112) to capture his first world title. The fight was the co-main event bout to the lightweight world title unification between Vasiliy Lomachenko and Jose Pedraza.
The fight started with Dogboe overpowering Navarrete in the early going. Navarrete, who had a noticeable height and reach advantage, was able to land some clean body shots that hurt Dogboe and pushed him back. Navarrete would go on to attack Dogboe throughout the fight, busting his nose and causing it to bleed. As the fight got deeper, Dogboe was able to win some rounds and land clean punches, but had to fight with both of his eyes nearly swollen shut.
According to CompuBox, Dogboe landed 176 of his 686 total punches (26 percent) while Navarrete connected on 221 of his 804 (27 percent). The two men were busy throwing power punches throughout the fight as Dogboe landed 129 of his 456 power shots (28 percent) and Navarrete landing 170 of his 524 punches (32 percent).
Dogboe's reign as the world champion ended just short of eight months. Dogboe started 2018 by winning the interim WBO title in January and then won the title in late April by defeating Jessie Magdaleno. Dogboe made one successful title defense back in August by knocking out Hidenori Otake in the first round.
The fight took place at Madison Square Garden and was televised live on ESPN. The opening televised bout saw rising prospect Teofimo Lopez scored a vicious knockout victory over Mason Menard in the first round.
