Isaac Dogbe’s first title defence of his Super Bantamweight belt couldn’t have gone any better as he floored Japanese boxer Hidenori Otake in the first round in their Arizona bout. Dogbe knocked his opponent down early in the first round with a good hook but Otake did well to recover and fight back with some shots of his own. However a flurry of punches and good shots from Dogbe left the referee with no choice but to to wave off the fight and call it for Dogbe. Dogbe, who promised a knock out duly delivered. What’s next for him is unifying the Super bantamweight division and he wasted no time in calling out his opponents. He will now target the WBC, IBF and WBA belts.
What does this mean for Ghana Boxing?
Over the last few years, Boxing in the country has taken a nose dive and has rather been at a state most sports fans aren’t happy about. The jury is still out on the support these boxers get from the GBA. The likes of Gameboy Tagoe are doing their best to make a name for themselves. There is no doubt however that Dogbe is the darling boy in the sport now. He has drawn comparisons to the ‘professor’ himself, Azumah Nelson and rightly so. The undisputed Face of Boxing in Ghana now is winning over the Ghanaian fans with every bout and every victory. He is single handedly developing the country’s interest in the sport again and our sole world champion looks like he has a lot more in his drawer. The sky is very much the limit for our young, 25-year old maestro.
For Otake, it is his first knock out loss in his career and his first defeat in 4 years. Dogboe promised to uproot him and uproot him he did. The signs were clear and a storm was approaching. You will expect Otake to know a storm when he sees one but you can pardon him this one time. This wasn’t just any storm, this was a Royal Storm. NEHO!!!
Liverpool Top
3 games played, 7 goals scored and absolutely none conceded. Liverpool couldn’t have hoped for a better start and as Manchester City slipped up at Wolves, Mohammed Salah’s 20th minute goal was more than enough to take the reds to the top of the table. It’s been all joy this season For Liverpool as they bid to end their 28-year wait to be Champions of England once again. In perspective, there are not too many surprises here as almost everyone will predict Liverpool winning their first three games of the season against West Ham, Crystal Palace and Brighton. The manner in which they won however shows how much this team has grown and how hard they are trying to do away with bad habits. In the last two games, they have needed their defence to step up and they duly delivered. Virgil Van Dijk has been a commanding figure in the heart of defence with Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander Arnold being as impressive as ever. The next six fixtures present tougher fixtures as Liverpool face sides a lot closer to them at the top of the table. This will give them an opportunity to duly assess themselves and know how good they are as a team and whether they are really contenders or pretenders.
City Held
For those who didn’t watch the game, this wasn’t entirely a sit back, park the bus style of ultra defence tactic that secured Wolves the point. To be fair, they’re were a bit pragmatic- expected of a newly promoted side who are facing a team that won the league by 100 points last season- but Wolves gave a good account of themselves. They were extremely unlucky a week ago and the performance they put up at Leicester deserved at least a point. They put that behind them and fought hard to get a point against the champions. City on the other hand are right to feel hard done as they hit the woodwork thrice. The controversies surrounding Wolves’ goal also leaves a sour taste in the mouth of Pep Guardiola’s men. Either way, this is a very enlightening indicator as to the type of challenges ahead of them if they are to retain their title.
Arsenal
Unai Emery got his first win as an Arsenal manager at home to West Ham on Saturday. Arsenal did it the hard way, coming back from being 1-0 down to win 3-1. This is a welcome win as the gunners endured back to back defeats against Manchester City and Chelsea in the opening two games of the season. The next few fixtures present Emery and his charges with relatively easier opponents on paper and they are expected to make up some grounds on their rivals.
Inter
Inter let go off a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 at fulltime against Torino at the Guissepe Meazza stadium. Belloti and Meite scored for Torino in the second half to cancel out goals by Ivan Perisic and Stefan De Vrij in the first. Inter looked to be cruising before Torino pulled one back in the 55th minute. They then piled on the pressure and got the equaliser 8 minutes later. It’s been a tough start for Inter after last season’s impressive outing. There is still a long way to go and improvement must come fast if the Nerazurri are serious about this title challenge again.
Bonus : Manchester United face Tottenham Hotspur today in the final game of Matchweek 3. As the pressure mounts on Jose Mourinho, you will expect a reaction from United after the awful performance a week ago at Brighton. Tottenham themselves are aiming to make a huge statement by keeping up pace with Liverpool and Chelsea at the top of the table. Kick off is at 19:00 GMT.
Eli Avot
The Green Turf 
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