Dogboe set for July 21 return on Valdez-Velez undercard
Dogboe has not fought since losing his rematch with Emanuel Navarrete in May of last year.
In what’s frankly an overoptimistic move at this point, Top Rank released the full lineup for its July 21st show headlined by Oscar Valdez vs. Jayson Veldez. Knockout machine Edgar Berlanga co-headlines against Eric Moon, while unbeaten ESPY winner Kim Clavel opens the main card against Natalie Gonzalez.
Said Berlanga, “I’ve not really changed much about training because of the knockout streak. Training is all about improving as a boxer. I had a good amateur career, and that comes from being a good technical boxer. My focus in training has been to continue to improve my skills under my trainer, Andre Rozier, and Team Havoc.”
The undercard might be the real story, though, as former super bantamweight champion Isaac Dogboe is set to return for the first time in over a year in a featherweight eight-rounder against Chris Avalos.
Dogboe (20-2, 14 KO) looked poised to secure 2018 Fighter of the Year honors after impressive knockouts of Cesar Juarez, Jessie Magdaleno, and Hidenori Otake. Then came two disastrous losses to Emanuel Navarrete, which sent the 5’4” “Royal Storm” to featherweight. An ankle injury scrapped a planned divisional debut against Carl Frampton last year and he now gets a far easier touch in Avalos, who’s 2-5 with four knockout losses in his last seven bouts.
The undercard also features super lightweight prospect Elvis Rodriguez (7-0-1, 7 KO) making his second appearance in three weeks after scoring a first-round knockout in the 2nd. He takes on Dennis Okoth (4-3-1, 2 KO), while Raphael Igbokwe (14-2, 6 KO) fights Genc Pllana (8-1-1, 4 KO) in a delayed super middleweight batch.
Italian Olympian Guido Vianello (7-0, 7 KO) fights TBA in his second fight of the summer.