Isaac Dogboe blasts Hidenori Otake in first-round stoppage to retain belt

Super bantamweight world titleholder Isaac Dogboe retained his title on Friday with a first-round stoppage of veteran Hidenori Otake Friday on the co-main event of the lightweight world title fight between Ray Beltran and Jose Pedraza at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

The unbeaten Dogboe (20-0, 14 KO's), 23, a Ghana native training out of London, England, knocked Otake down with a sharp left hook with about 1:36 remaining in the round.

Otake (31-3-3, 14 KO's), 37, of Japan, was able to get up, but Dogboe went right back to business, clobbering his opponent with a barrage of left and right hooks to the body, straight rights to the head, and clubbing uppercuts on the inside. With about 43 seconds left in the round, referee Chris Flores had no choice, but to halt the bout.

Dogboe, a 2012 Olympian, has knocked out his last five opponents, while Otake saw a nine-bout winning streak evaporate in the blink of an eye.

This was Dogboe's first defense of the WBO title he won by scoring an 11th-round stoppage of former titlist Jessie Magdaleno in April. Before that, Dogboe won the interim title with a fifth-round TKO over Cesar Juarez.